Symmetry S2^®

Symmetry S2 is the only genuine all-in-one EBSD detector on the market, and is based on the revolutionary Symmetry detector, the world’s first EBSD detector to utilise advanced CMOS technology. Exceptional performance for all EBSD applications is combined with ease of use and a range of innovative design features. Highlights include:

Guaranteed indexing speeds in excess of 4500 pps
1244 x 1024 pixel resolution – ideal for high angular resolution (HR) EBSD
Unique fibre-optic coupling with sub-pixel distortion
Extreme sensitivity, benefiting all types of analysis
Software controlled detector tilting

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Symmetry S2 uses a customised CMOS sensor and fibre optics to unlock a unique and powerful combination of speed, sensitivity, and diffraction pattern detail. Symmetry S2, in combination with the AZtec software, delivers exceptional performance on all materials and for all measurements. The highest analysis speed of Symmetry S2, in excess of 4500 pps, enables texture and grain size characterisation in a matter of seconds, yet this is achieved without requiring high beam currents or sacrificing pattern resolution. This means that these high speeds can be achieved even on challenging, real-world samples such as multiphase light metal alloys or deformed steels.

In addition, Symmetry S2 can collect distortion-free, megapixel resolution EBSPs for detailed strain and phase analyses. This is a detector to suit all applications, enhanced by innovative features such as software controlled tilting (with dynamic calibration) and a unique proximity sensor.

When an EBSD detector has no compromise, no application is beyond your reach.

The Symmetry S2 detector has an outstanding performance coupled with ease of use, making it the ideal detector for all EBSD applications:

Guaranteed indexing speeds > 4500 patterns per second (pps)
Fibre-optic lens delivering unrivalled sensitivity
Highest sensitivity > 800 pps / nA
156 x 88 pixel resolution at maximum speed
Full megapixel resolution (1244 x 1024) patterns – ideal for high angular resolution (HR)-EBSD strain analyses
Sub-pixel distortion, ensuring an angular precision below 0.05°
Software controlled tilting interface coupled with autocalibration – perfect positioning and indexing for all sample sizes and geometries
Unique proximity sensor – detects potential collisions before they happen and automatically moves the detector to a safe position
Five integrated forescatter detectors (optional), providing full colour complementary channelling contrast and atomic number contrast images.
Bellows SEM interface, maintaining the microscope’s vacuum integrity
Simple and intuitive detector settings, ensuring optimum results every time

The performance of the Symmetry S2 detector is enabled by the powerful AZtecHKL acquisition platform, backed up by the fastest and most modern EBSD data processing software, AZtecCrystal. The comparison table below will help you to choose the best software package to deliver the flexibility and functionality that you require.

Feature	Description	AZtecHKL	AZtecHKL	AZtecHKL
		Standard	Advanced	Automated
AZtec EBSD Mapping	Point Analyses,LineScans and Maps	✔	✔	✔
ReAnalysis	Reprocess datasets with stored patterns	✔	✔	✔
AZtec Synergy	Fully integrates Oxford Instruments EDS & EBSD systems with simultaneous EDS and EBSD maps /linescans	✔	✔	✔
AZtec PhaseID	Combines EDS & EBSD data to identify unknown phases	✔	✔	✔
AZtec Data Analysis	Data Clean, Grain Detection & Size Analysis, Map Editor	✔	✔	✔
AZtecCrystalStandard	Modern, standalone EBSD data processing software incl.maps, pole/inverse pole figures and grain analysis	✔	✔	✔
AZtec TruPhase	Real time differentiation of similar crystal structures using EDS	O	✔	✔
AZtec Autolock	Predictive and reactive specimen drift correction	O	✔	✔
Colour FSD	Colour visualisation of orientation and Z-contrast images	O	✔	✔
PseudoSymmetry	Solves orientation measurements in materials where different orientations deliver similar EBSPs	O	✔	✔
AZtecHKL Steel	Reclassify phase tool for phase separation and dedicated steel phase database	O	✔	✔
AZtecCrystal Advanced	Comprehensive standalone data processing package, incl. ODFs, materials properties and an advanced classify tool	O	✔	✔
AZtec Large Area Mapping	Acquire and stitch multiple fields to characterise large sample areas	O	O	✔
AZtec Image Registration	Register and use an image for specimen navigation	O	O	✔
AZtec MapQueue	Schedule acquisition of multiple experiments	O	O	✔
CIF Import	Import Crystal Information Files for phase definition	O	O	✔
Magnetic Field Correction	Correct EBSD pattern distortion from immersion lens fields	O	O	O
AZtec 3D	Automated acquisition of 3D datasets on compatible FIB-SEMs	✘	O	O

O: Available as Option

Application Notes using Symmetry

EBSD analysis of Lead Halide Perovskites using Symmetry

Methylammonium Lead Halides (MALHs) are organic crystal compounds used in solar cells, LEDs, LASERs and photodetectors. Recent improvements to EBSD detectors now allows for their characterisation of grain size and texture.

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High resolution EBSD Mapping of Martensitic Steel

Martensitic structures are traditionally challenging to measure with EBSD. Here, the sensitivity and pattern detail provided by Symmetry enables exceptional results from a martensitic stainless steel.

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High Sensitivity EBSD Detectors

CMOS-based EBSD detectors enable faster and more sensitive analyses of samples. Sensitivity is related to the full-system efficiency, or Detective Quantum Efficiency (DQE).

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Why high sensitivity is essential for unlocking the power of CMOS-based EBSD detectors

CMOS-based EBSD detectors enable faster and more sensitive analyses of samples.

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Phase map of a duplex steel: 10M analyses in 37 minutes at 4500 pps

KAM map of a deformed Ni grain collected using AZtec’s Refined Accuracy indexing

Grain relative orientation deviation map of a deformed Ni sample, collected at 4730 pps

Orientation contrast image of a Ni sample collecting using the S2’s forescatter detectors

Full resolution EBSP from a steel sample, ideal for HR-EBSD strain analyses

The Symmetry S2 fibre-optically coupled CMOS EBSD detector

Applications

The Symmetry S2’s combination of extreme speed, sensitivity and versatility makes it the only EBSD detector that can cover all application areas. This includes:

Routine analyses of standard metal and alloy samples
In-depth examination of strain and deformation
Effective characterisation of complex or beam sensitive samples
Optimised measurement of large samples
Transmission Kikuchi Diffraction (TKD) analysis of nanocrystalline materials

Rapid quality control of materials properties

Symmetry S2’s maximum analysis speed of >4500 pps enables the measurement of key sample properties in just seconds
Here the grain size of a duplex stainless steel has been analysed to ASTM E2627 standard in less than 80 s, measuring > 2000 grains.
Similarly rapid characterisation of texture and phase fraction makes the Symmetry S2 ideal for quality control and high sample throughput applications
High speed analyses can be completed on a wide range of materials, using only moderate beam currents (16.4 nA)

High speed analysis of beam-sensitive samples

The unique fibre-optic lens within the Symmetry S2 detector delivers unparalleled sensitivity, ensuring not only excellent data from beam-sensitive materials but performance benefits on all sample types
Here a quartz (SiO₂) rock sample has been effectively analysed in under 12 minutes at 1900 pps, using only a moderate beam current
Symmetry S2’s sensitivity ensures you to utilise the detectors exceptional speeds in all applications, delivering significant throughput advantages

Detailed analysis of strained samples

In order to characterise strain effectively, a detector with megapixel resolution and minimal distortion is essential
Symmetry S2 is the only detector that can satisfy these criteria – full 1244 x 1024 pixel diffraction patterns are ideal for high angular resolution (HR) EBSD, with every detector guaranteeing sub-pixel distortion
This example shows how high quality EBSPs coupled with AZtec’s Refined Accuracy indexing mode can characterise dislocation cells within a strained Ni sample

Analysis of any sample size

Large samples are difficult to analyse using conventional EBSD detectors, since they need to be analysed at long working distances (WD) in the SEM, this compromising the standard EBSD geometry
Symmetry S2, with its software-controlled tilting, can be positioned at the ideal geometry for every sample type, from TEM foils to cm-scale samples (such as in-situ testing samples or geological thin sections)
The map shows EBSD data from a large mechanical test Ti64 alloy sample, with the grain orientation data used to calculate the Young’s Modulus in the loading direction