OIM Analysis Tutorials

Basic Tutorial............................................................................................................................ 2
Step 1 Loading dataset ........................................................................................................................... 2
Step 2 - Creating Maps ............................................................................................................................. 4
Step 3 - Grains in OIM ............................................................................................................................. 9
Step 4 - Discrete PF and Rotation........................................................................................................... 13
Step 5 - Texture....................................................................................................................................... 17
Step 6 - Templates .................................................................................................................................. 20
Highlighting and Partitioning................................................................................................. 24
Introduction............................................................................................................................................. 24
Manually Isolating Lath Areas............................................................................................................ 25
Step 1 - Load File ............................................................................................................................... 25
Step 2 - Create IQ/Phase Map ............................................................................................................ 26
Step 3 - Configure Highlighting ......................................................................................................... 28
Step 4 - Highlight Alpha Grains ......................................................................................................... 28
Step 5 - Create Lath Partition ............................................................................................................. 29
Characterizing Boundaries.................................................................................................................. 29
Step 1 - Create MDF........................................................................................................................... 30
Step 2 - Reconfigure Highlighting...................................................................................................... 31
Step 3 - Discrete MDF Highlighting .................................................................................................. 32
Step 4 - Boundary Specifics ............................................................................................................... 33
Automated Highlighting ..................................................................................................................... 38
Step 1 - Grain Size Chart .................................................................................................................... 38
Step 2 - Chart Highlighting................................................................................................................. 40
Step 3 - Partition Formula................................................................................................................... 40
Misorientation Profile ......................................................................................................................... 43
Step 1 - Highlighting Configuration ................................................................................................... 43
Step 2 - Profile Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 44
Twins Tutorial ......................................................................................................................... 45
Introduction............................................................................................................................................. 45
Step 1 - Getting Started........................................................................................................................... 46
Step 2 - Cleanup...................................................................................................................................... 47
Step 3 - Isolating the IC Lines ................................................................................................................ 51
Step 4 - Twins ......................................................................................................................................... 56
Step 5 - Coherent Twins ......................................................................................................................... 60

OIM Analysis Tutorial 1

Basic Tutorial
Step 1 Loading dataset

The following tutorial should help you get started with OIM Analysis as well as show some of the
analytical procedures a researcher might use for investigating the crystallographic structure of a
polycrystalline material. For this tutorial, we will be using a dataset obtained from rolled aluminum sheet
for a friction stir welding application. This dataset is installed during the OIM Analysis installation
procedure. Assuming the defaults were selected during the installation procedure, this data file is most
likely located in Program Files/TexSEM/OIM Analysis 4/Samples. To get started launch OIM Analysis.

The first step is to create a new project. The easiest way to do this is to left-click the Quick New button on
the QuickGen Toolbar and select Project from the pop-up menu as shown below.

This will create a default project. (there are multiple ways to open project, this is true with many functions
in OIM so that users can operate the software in the way that is most convenient - projects can also be
created from the New Project button on the Standard Toolbar or using New Project from the File
Menu.) The next step is to add a dataset to the project this is done by clicking on the project icon in the
project tree with the right hand mouse button. Select New>Dataset from the pull down menu as shown
below.

2 OIM Analysis Tutorial

You will now be prompted to open the file containing the dataset as shown below.

Select the file FSW Al.osc. Once the file is successfully opened the screen should look something like
that shown below. In the project tree window you will see the project, dataset and partition. The partition
was automatically created and contains all of the data in the data set. A window providing some summary
information on the dataset will be displayed when the dataset is opened.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 3

Step 2 - Creating Maps

We will now create an inverse pole figure map. This is most easily done by pressing the IPF Quick Map
icon on the QuickGen Toolbar as shown below.

This should result in the screen appearing as below. The inverse pole figure map is color coded map
where the color gives an indication of the crystal direction aligned with the sample normal. For example,
in this case, the points colored blue have <111> directions aligned with the sample normal, the points in
red are <100> oriented and the points in green are <110>. It should be noted that in this map, only the
crystal direction parallel to the sample normal is fixed. The in-plane orientation is not indicated in this
map.

4 OIM Analysis Tutorial

The orientations can be confirmed by switching to Lattice in the Information Pane of the window as
shown below. As the cursor moves around the map, a wire frame schematic of the crystal is displayed.

Now, let's create a second type of map using an alternative approach. On the project tree click on the
Partition (a Partition contains a filtered subset of the data - in this case it contains all of the data) entitled
All Data with the right mouse button. This will bring up a pull-down menu. Select New>Map from the
menu as shown below.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 5

This will display the Map Properties dialog. This dialog allows the map to be configured. In this case, we
want to create an Image Quality (IQ) map overlaid with low and high angle boundaries. To do this we set
the Map Grayscale Type to Image Quality. We then need to set the Grain Boundary Type to Rotation
Angle and press the Add button to configure the low angle boundaries to be displayed.

Pressing the Add button bring up the following Add Boundary dialog. We will define "low angle"
boundaries as boundaries with misorientation between 1 and 15 degrees as shown.

6 OIM Analysis Tutorial

We want to assign a specific color to these types of boundaries. This is done by hitting the Segment tab in
the dialog. In this page of the dialog the color and thickness of the boundary segments can be defined.
Make these types of boundaries yellow as shown.

Close the Add Boundary dialog by pressing the OK button and hit the Add button again in the Map
Properties dialog to configure the high angle boundaries. In this case, define the "high angle" boundaries
as boundaries with misorientations exceeding 15 degrees and set the color to blue. Once the boundaries
are configured they should be listed in the Map Properties dialog as shown below.

After the OK button is pressed in the Map Properties dialog, the following map will be generated. The
window has been maximized to show more detail.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 7

Note in the legend for the map the fraction of the low and high angle grain boundaries. There will also be
a note defining the Minimum Boundary Misorientation for calculating fractions. The default is 2 degrees,
however, we have defined low angle boundaries as boundaries with misorientations lying between 1 and
15 degrees. To change the minimum boundary misorientation select Preferences from the Settings menu.
This will bring up the Preferences dialog. Set the Minimum Boundary Misorientation to 1 for this
example.

This will result in more boundaries being shown in the map.

8 OIM Analysis Tutorial

Step 3 - Grains in OIM

Grains have a well defined meaning in OIM, however, the definition differs from that used in tradition
metallography. In OIM, two neighboring scan points belong to the same grain if the misorientation
between them is less than some value prescribed by the user - the Grain Tolerance Angle. This means,
that two neighboring points in a grain may differ in orientation by 0.1 degrees, but the misorientation
between points at one end of a grain and the opposite end may differ considerably more. This is especially
true in deformed materials like the rolled aluminum used in this tutorial. The best way to see how the
points are grouped into grains is to use a Unique Grain Color Map. In this map, each grain is assigned a
color. The colors do not denote an orientation, the grains are simply colored to distinguish them from
neighboring grains. To generate a Unique Grain Color Map, select a Grain Map from the QuickGen
Toolbar.

This will produce the following map.

In order to understand the parameters used in constructing the map, click on the All Data partition in the
project tree with the right mouse button and select Properties from the pull-down menu.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 9

This will bring up the Partition Properties dialog. Switch to the Grain Size page of the dialog by hitting
the Grain Size tab. Note the default value of 5 degrees misorientation for the Grain Tolerance Angle and a
value of 2 for the Minimum Grain Size. The minimum grain size defines the number of scan points before
a group of neighboring and similarly oriented points is identified as a grain in the OIM software.

In order to illustrate the impact these parameters have on the Grains in OIM, we will create a new
partition. This is done using the right mouse pull down menu at the dataset level as shown below.

Once again, the Partition Properties dialog will be displayed. Switch to the Grain Size page and change
the Grain Tolerance Angle to 15 degrees.

10 OIM Analysis Tutorial

Close the dialog by pressing on the OK button. This will add a new Partition to the Dataset. This is
indicated in the Project Tree.

The name of the two partitions can be changed to reflect the differences the the Grain Tolerance Angle.
This can be done using the right mouse activated pull-down menu and selecting Rename.

With the new partition active (activate it by simply left-mouse clicking on it), create a new Unique Grain
Color Map using the QuickGen Toolbar.

Now we can compare the resulting maps. To display the maps as shown here, close all of the windows
except the two grain color maps and then hit the Tile Vertically button on the Standard Toolbar. Note
the larger grains in the map with 15 degree tolerance.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 11

While it should be recognized this is a relatively small area scan to keep the file size small for the tutorial,
we want to look at Grain Size Distribution. Before starting this process we need to make some more
changes to the Grain Size page in the Partition Properties dialogs for both partitions. Because the grains
are elongated many of the grains touch the edges of the scan area. In general, these are excluded from any
kind of statistical analyses like Grain Size Distribution. However, because our sampling area is small we
need to include these scan edge grains. Open the Partition Properties dialog for each partition by
selecting Properties from the pull-down menu for each partition. Check on the "Include grains at edges of
scan in statistics" option as shown below.

Now we will create a chart showing comparing the Grain Size Distribution for each partition. This is done
using the pull-down menu at the project level and selecting New>Multichart.

This will bring up the Multichart Dialog. The type of chart needs to be selected as shown, and a chart
added for the two partitions.

This is done by pressing the Add button to bring up the Multichart Entry dialog where the partition can be
selected. Name is the name used in the chart legend.

12 OIM Analysis Tutorial

The resulting chart should appear as follows. Even with the small sampling of grains, it is clear that
setting the Grain Tolerance Angle to 15 degrees produces more large grains, whereas a value of 5 degrees
produces smaller grains.

Step 4 - Discrete PF and Rotation

In this step of the tutorial we will begin to look at the orientations themselves with respect to the sample.
The sample was obtained from rolled aluminum sheet used for friction stir welding. The sample scanned
was sectioned from a plane normal to the rolling direction as shown in the schematic below.

One of the most common tools for visualizing orientations in polycrystalline materials is the pole figure.
Before plotting a pole figure close all of the document windows. Generate an IPF map from using the
appropriate button on the QuickGen toolbar and plot a pole figure. The pole figure is most easily
generated by simply hitting the Pole Figure button on the QuickGen Toolbar. This will automatically
generate a 001 pole figure.

However, for FCC rolled materials, the most common pole figure displayed in the literature is the (111)
pole figure. We want to change the (001) to a (111) pole figure. This is easily done by clicking in the pole

OIM Analysis Tutorial 13

figure with the right hand mouse button and selecting Properties from the pull-down menu.

In the resulting Pole Figure dialog, change the pole figure to an (001) pole figure by double-clicking on
the (001) pole figure in the list.

The resulting pole figure should appear similar to that shown below.

14 OIM Analysis Tutorial

However, this doesn't look like a typical (111) pole figure for rolled aluminum. This is because of the
plane on which the scan was performed. Pole figures from rolled materials are more typically obtained
from a plane as shown in the following schematic.

In order to get the data into this configuration we need to rotate it 90 degrees about the transverse
direction or TD. This can be accomplished by selecting Rotate from the Dataset pull-down menu in the
project tree.

The Rotate dialog will be displayed. We want to rotate 90 degrees about TD in a negative sense. We can
rotate the data, creating a new dataset within the project or simply rotate the data in place. For this
example we will rotate the data in place. The change in orientation will be reflected immediately in the
pole figure and the IPF map.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 15

The map and pole figure should appear as follows.

The pole figure looks much more like that expected for rolled aluminum. However, it is clearly not
exactly centered. This is likely due to tilts introduced during the sectioning or subsequent sample
preparation. Successive rotations of -1 degree about ND, 4.5 degrees about TD and -3 degrees about RD
seems to work well. (One way to identify the amount of rotation needed is to use Highlighting in Plot
Misorientation Mode in the pole figure.) The pole figure should appear as follows after these finer
rotations.

16 OIM Analysis Tutorial

Step 5 - Texture

While the discrete pole figures give a general impression on the clustering of orientations in orientation
space, they are not very quantitative. For quantitative information on the orientation distribution we need
to use the tools of Texture Analysis. OIM Analysis has many tools for characterizing the textures of
polycrystals. In OIM 4 the texture analysis is contained within a Texture Document at the same level in
the project tree as the maps, charts or discrete plots. The Texture Document contains all of the calculation
parameters and resultant data needed to generate texture plots such as pole figures or ODFs. The actual
texture plots are maintained at a level below the Textures themselves. To calculate a texture select
New>Texture from the Partition pull-down menu.

The following Texture Properties dialog will be displayed. First we need to select the calculation method
and associated parameters by hitting the Edit>> button.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 17

This will display the following dialog. In this case, we will simply use the default values for now.

We want to compare the discrete (111) pole figure already plotted against one derived from the texture
calculations. This is done by pressing the Add PF button on the texture properties dialog. This will bring
up the following dialog. The (hkl) should be set to (111).

Once all of the dialogs are closed using the OK buttons, the texture calculations will commence. For this
file, this should only take a couple of minutes. When the calculations have completed an icon representing

18 OIM Analysis Tutorial

the texture is included into the project tree. To generate the pole figure plot, right-mouse click on the new
texture in the project and select New>Texture Plot from the pull down menu.

The (111) pole figure should already be selected and ready to display.

Once the OK button is pressed the pole figure will be generated.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 19

Step 6 - Templates

It may take a considerable amount of effort to get all of the partitions, textures, plots... configured
precisely as desired. OIM Analysis has several features that make it possible to reuse the configurations
developed during an analysis session. For example, a pole figure can be copied from one data set to
another, this doesn't mean the actual pole figure plot is copied but rather the plot is generated using the
data from the new dataset and the parameters from the old pole figure. As an example, let's construct a
map showing the fraction of material within 10 degrees of the "S" orientation (this is a specific
orientation, {123}<63-4>, that is frequently observed in rolled FCC materials). This is done by going to
the dataset icon in the project tree and selecting New>Map from the pull-down menu. Select Crystal
Orientation for the Color-Coded Map Type and Image Quality for the Gray Scale Map Type from the
resulting Map Properties dialog.

Now press the Edit>> button for the Color Coded Map Type. This brings up the following dialog. First
turn on the orthotropic (rolled sheet) symmetry as we are looking at a rolled aluminum sheet that exhibits
strong processing symmetry (the pole figure is symmetric about the horizontal and vertical axes).

20 OIM Analysis Tutorial

Press the Add button to set the software to look for the "S" orientation as shown below. (You only need to
enter one set of orientation angles/indices)

Once these parameters are all defined, the resulting map should appear as follows.

The colored points are those, which have "S" Orientations. The map legend indicates that the volume
fraction of the "S" component is 33%.

Now open a new dataset (use FSW Al 2.osc), apply the appropriate rotations. Use the copy document

OIM Analysis Tutorial 21

function and paste the map into the new dataset.

This should result in the following.

The map definition can also be saved as a Template and applied during later analysis sessions. To save
the template use the Export>Template function from the pull down menu on the project tree or in the map
window.

22 OIM Analysis Tutorial

This template can then be applied at a later time using Apply Template at either the Partition, Dataset or
Project levels, the template will be applied to all partitions in the dataset when applied at the Dataset level
and in all datasets when applied at the Project level. As an example, a template containing a more
extensive set of analyses for rolled fcc materials is included with the OIM 4 installation. Apply this
template to the FSW Al 2 dataset.

This will result in a new partition being created with a Crystal Orientation Map for several orientations as
well as a Crystal Orientation chart showing their distribution as a function of tolerance angle.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 23

In fact, templates can be attached to user specified buttons in the QuickGen Toolbar using the
Preferences dialog under the Settings menu making a whole set of analyses tied to a single push of a
button.

Highlighting and Partitioning

Introduction

This tutorial will use OIM scan data from dual phase titanium sample. The sample has large grains of
alpha titanium and a lath structure composed of both alpha and beta titanium. The tutorial consists of four
parts.

1 Opening the file, creating a combined image quality and phase map, using manual highlighting on the
map in grain mode to create a partition containing the lath area.

2. Operating in the lath partition, identify the character of the interphase boundaries using the Discrete
Axis/Angle Misorientation.

3. Use an alternative (more automated) method based on the grain size chart to isolate the lath areas.

4. Use the misorientation profile highlighting function to characterize the internal structure of the large
alpha grains. This will also introduce the user to the interactive view properties.

In the process the tutorial introduces many aspects of OIM Analysis including:

Loading scan data.

Creating maps.
Overlaying boundaries on maps (axis/angle type)
Highlighting in maps.

24 OIM Analysis Tutorial

 Configuring the highlighting gradient.
Setting the highlighting mode.
Using the grain highlighting mode.
Using the vector profile highlighting mode.
Recording highlighting data in a tabular list.
Configuring the recorded highlighting table.
Exporting the recorded highlighting table.
Partitioning
By highlighting in maps.
By highlighting in charts.
Using an explicit formula.
Creating a Discrete Misorientation Plot using the axis/angle representation
Highlighting in discrete plots
Configuring discrete plots
Zooming in on maps

Using the Flexiview Tab

Creating a Grain Size Chart

Highlighting charts
Manually Isolating Lath Areas

Step 1 - Load File

Assuming OIM Analysis has just been launched and that no project has yet been created, the easiest thing
to do is to open the scan data file. This is done by selecting Open from the File menu. This results in the
following dialog being displayed. Set the file type to OIM Scan Files (*.osc). Open the file entitled "Dual
Phase Titanium.osc".

When the file is opened it will be automatically placed under a new project in the project tree.. In
OIM Analysis Tutorial 25
addition, 3 partitions will be created under placed under the data set in the project tree. One partition
containing all points within the scan data, one containing only those points identified with the alpha phase
and one partition for the beta phase. When the partitions are created, the points in the scan belonging to
each partition will be grouped into grains.

When the file is opened a window containing summary information about the data set is displayed. To
access similar information for each of the phases. Position the mouse cursor over the phase of interest in
the project tree and press the right mouse button. A pop-up menu will be displayed. Select Summary View
from this menu.

Step 2 - Create IQ/Phase Map

The next step is to create an Image Quality (IQ) map overlaid with colors identifying the phase each data
point belongs to. The easiest way to do this is to hit the IQ map button from the Quick-Gen toolbar.

After the button is pressed, an IQ map is displayed in a window.

To overlay colors identifying the phases, position the mouse cursor over the map and press the right-
mouse button to activate the pop-up menu. Select Properties from the menu.

26 OIM Analysis Tutorial

This will display the Map Properties dialog. Select Phase from the Color Coded Map Type list.

This will result in the map being changed from simply an IQ map to an IQ map overlaid with colors
identifying the phases. Note the volume fraction of each phase in the Legend displayed in the right hand
window pane.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 27

Step 3 - Configure Highlighting
In order to isolate the lath area from the large alpha grains we will manually highlight the large alpha
grains in the map. To do this, we first need to configure the highlighting. The first step is to change the
highlighting mode to Grain Mode. This is done by clicking on the appropriate icon in the map
highlighting mode portion of the Highlighting Toolbar.

Now we need to reconfigure the Highlighting Gradient for easier visualization of the grains. To change
the color gradient press on the gradient icon in the Highlighting Toolbar.

This will bring up the following dialog box. We want to set the gradient to a single color - blue. This can
be done by setting each of the colors in the gradient to blue or more simply by setting the number of
colors to 1.

Step 4 - Highlight Alpha Grains

We want to manually highlight all of the large alpha grains in the map. This is done by simply clicking on
the grains. The resulting map should appear as follows where all of the large alpha grains are highlighted
in blue.

28 OIM Analysis Tutorial

Step 5 - Create Lath Partition
Now that the alpha grains have been highlighted we want to create a partition containing only the
remaining lath areas. This is easily done by performing a right mouse click on the map to bring up the
map pop-up menu. Select Non-Highlighted -> Partition from the pop-up menu.

This will create a new partition in the project tree. The name of the partition can be changed by selecting
Rename from the pop-up menu displayed when clicking on the partition with the right mouse button.

To show that this partition only contains the lath structure, make the partition active by left clicking on it
in the project tree. Hit the IQ map button in the Quick-Gen toolbar. This will result in the following map,
where the blacked out points are those points in the dataset excluded from the partition.

Characterizing Boundaries

OIM Analysis Tutorial 29

Step 1 - Create MDF
Before creating the Discrete Misorientation Plot, close all the windows in the workspace portion of OIM
Analysis with the exception of the IQ map for the Lath partition. Make sure the Lath partition is active by
clicking on it in the project tree with the left mouse button. (The active partition is shown on the Quick-
Gen Toolbar as shown below.)

Using the right mouse button click on the Lath Partition in the project tree to pop-up the following menu.
Select New Discrete Plot from the pop-up menu.

This will bring up the following dialog box. The first step is to set the Plot Type to Axis/Angle
Misorientations.

The Discrete MDF is a series of sections through Axis/Angle Misorientation space. We want to configure

30 OIM Analysis Tutorial

the MDF sections. The first step is to clear the default sections from the Sections part of the dialog by
pressing the Clear button. Now press the Generate button which will display the following dialog.
Change the maximum in the range to 90 degrees from the default value of 180 degrees as shown.

Press OK in this dialog and the parent. The discrete axis/angle misorientation plot will be calculated and
displayed.

To display the map and the discrete plot side-by-side as shown here, select the Tile Vertically icon from
the Utilities Toolbar.

Step 2 - Reconfigure Highlighting

Before starting the highlighting we need to reconfigure the highlighting. First we want to change the
Highlighting Tolerance Angle. This is done by clicking on the corresponding icon in the Highlighting
toolbar.

This will display a dialog box for changing the tolerance angle. Set the tolerance angle to 5 degrees. On a

OIM Analysis Tutorial 31

click in the discrete plot, the tolerance angle defines the spread in orientation (or misorientation) from the
exact orientation (or misorientation) clicked.

We also need to make sure that highlighting is turned on - both for the Discrete Misorientation Plot and
for the IQ Map. This is done using the right mouse pop-up menus for the map and the plot.

Set the Highlighting Gradient color to a single color - green.

In order to see the individual misorientations plotted in the Discrete Misorientation Plot either maximize
the OIM Analysis window using the standard Windows maximize button in the upper right-hand corner
of the application

and retile the windows using the Tile Vertical button on the Standard Toolbar.

Or change the display mode of the Discrete Misorientation Plot to not Fit to Window. This can be done
either from the pop-up menu for the plot window or making the Plot Window active by clicking on the
window's title bar and deselecting the Fit To Window button on the Standard Toolbar.

Make sure that Plots: Tolerance Highlighting is selected instead of Plots: Misorientation .

Step 3 - Discrete MDF Highlighting

Using the scroll bars, scroll the discrete MDF plot until the 10 degree section is centered in the window as
shown below. With the left mouse button click on the cluster of misorientations at the center of the
section. Note that a few boundaries have been highlighted in the map.

32 OIM Analysis Tutorial

Scroll the Discrete MDF Plot window until the 30 degree section is centered in the pattern. Switch the
color gradient to cyan and click on the cluster of orientation at 45 degrees and halfway out from the center
as shown below. The other 3 clusters will be highlighted as well as they are symmetrically equivalent
misorientations. Once again, note the few short boundaries highlighted in cyan.

To get a better view of the boundaries highlighted in the map, click on the Title Bar of the Map window
to activate it. Then, select the Zoom-Icon from the Standard Toolbar.

The cursor will change to a magnifying glass. With the cursor click on the map a few times to zoom in on
the highlighted boundaries.

Step 4 - Boundary Specifics

Return the map to Fit-To-Window mode by clicking on the icon on the Standard Toolbar.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 33

Change the color of the Highlighting Color Gradient once again - to yellow. Locate the 45 degree section
of the Discrete Misorientation Plot and click on one of the two clusters at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock. This
cluster is clearly associated with many of the boundaries in the lath area.

What type of boundaries are these? We know they correspond to 45 degrees of misorientation, but what
rotation axis? This can be determined easily by positioning the cursor over the (now yellow) cluster in the
45 degree section and looking at the status bar at the bottom of the application. (If the status bar does not
appear, select it from the View Menu.)

The misorientation can be described with respect to either the alpha phase or with respect to the beta
phase. This is why the misorientation is listed twice. In addition, it should be noted that while the axes are
given in integer values these are determined from real values and may not be precise. The highest integer
used in the indices describing the rotation axes can be set in the Preferences Dialog accessible from the
Settings Menu.

For further understanding of these boundaries, we want to change the map to give an indication of the
phases associated with each scan point. This can be done by making the map the active window by
clicking on the window title bar and selecting the Properties icon off the Standard Toolbar.

In the Properties Dialog for the map, set the Color Coded Map Type to Phase and press the Edit button.

Because we already have some green boundaries, change the color associated with the beta phase to blue.

34 OIM Analysis Tutorial

In the resulting map, the yellow boundaries are nearly always boundaries between the alpha and beta
phases.

We can find out more information about these boundaries using the information we have learned from the
highlighting procedure followed in this tutorial. Once again bring up the Map Properties Dialog. Now we
want to add the information about the boundaries learned here. The first step is to select Axis/Angle from
the Boundary Types list.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 35

Hit the add button and set the Phase to Beta, the Angle to 45 degrees and the Direction to [901] as shown.
Before closing this dialog, select the Segment tab and set the color to magenta.

After closing the dialog box, the boundaries will be drawn. However, the highlighting boundaries with be
overlaid on the boundaries defined. To remove the highlighting press on the Clear button on the
Highlighting Toolbar.

The following map should appear. The fraction these boundaries represent of all boundaries in the Lath
partition can be found in the Legend in the right-hand pane of the window. In fact, nearly 70% of the
boundaries in the lath area are of this type (within our tolerance of 5 degrees).

36 OIM Analysis Tutorial

One way to visualize these misorientations is to use Flexiview in the right hand pane of the map window.
Select the Flexiview tab at the bottom of the right-hand pane of the map window. Then press the Add
button and select Unit Cell Static from the pull-down menu. Repeat the procedure to get two boxes
displayed in the Flexiview window pane.

You may first want to zoom in on one of the Lath regions before proceeding. With shift button down, do
a left mouse click on one of the red grains and a second left mouse click on a neighboring blue grain.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 37

 Automated Highlighting

Step 1 - Grain Size Chart

Before proceeding through this stage of the tutorial, let's clean up the container of OIM Analysis by
closing all of the windows in the container part of the application. In the All Data partition, double click
on the IQ/Phase map if it still exists, or create one if it doesn't. Also, clear any highlighting as well. OIM
Analysis should appear as follows.

The next step is to modify the properties of the All Data partition and the Titanium(Alpha) partition to
include edge grains. This is done by doing a right-mouse click on the partition and selecting Properties.
In the resulting properties dialog, select the Grain Size tab and turn on the Include Edge Grains checkbox.

38 OIM Analysis Tutorial

Make sure the Titanium(Alpha) partition is active by clicking on it in the project tree. We want to make a
grain size chart. The easiest way to do this is to click on the Grain Size map icon in the Quick-Gen
Toolbar. However, we want to modify the properties of this chart. This is done by doing a right-mouse
click in the chart pane of the window and selecting Properties from the pop-up menu. Press the
Edit>> button in the Chart Properties dialog box. Select the Parameters tab. Change the X-Axis style to
linear.

This should result in the following chart showing the grain size distribution for the alpha phase grains.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 39

Step 2 - Chart Highlighting
Before highlighting we need to reconfigure the Highlighting color gradient to the Rainbow type.

If we were using a much larger dataset, it may be cumbersome to use the manual approach of manually
clicking on each large alpha grain. It would be nice to find a more automated approach. One approach
would be to filter out the large alpha grains using a grain size criterion. Now, in the chart, click and drag a
box starting at approximately a value of 1.5 on the x-axis and extending out to the maximum.

The chart and map will then be highlighted as follows.

Note that a few of the large lath grains are colored in the grayish-green color and we miss a few of the
large alpha grains at the edges. This is one of the drawbacks of using an automated approach is that it is
difficult to catch every feature exactly correct. However, statistically the results may be adequate. Note in
the legend of the chart window that the green box just to the right of the grayish-green box, the value is
2.25. We will use this value to demonstrate an alternative way of building partitions.

Step 3 - Partition Formula

Now let's use a more quantitative approach to building a partition. First, create a new partition by
selecting New>Partition form the data set pull-down menu in the project tree.

40 OIM Analysis Tutorial

The Partition Properties dialog will be displayed. The buttons in the dialog allow for filters based on
various aspects of the OIM data to be constructed using boolean operators. In this example, we want to
build a partition containing the lath areas surrounding the large alpha grains. We will do this by NOT-
selecting the large alpha grains.

The first step is to limit the phase to alpha only. This is done by pressing the phase button in the dialog
and selecting alpha from the phase list and setting the operator to "=" as shown below.

The resulting formula should appear as follows.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 41

Now we want to isolate the large grains, so hit the AND boolean operator button followed by the
Size button in the Grain Properties section of the Partition Properties dialog. We want to select grains
with diameters greater than 2.25 microns so make sure the button is pressed and enter 2.25 as shown
below. It should be noted that the grain size descriptor used in this dialog is that set in the Preferences
Dialog in the Settings Menu.

The resulting formula should appear as follows.

We have set the formula to only include the large alpha grains. To select everything but these grains,
move the cursor to the beginning of the formula and press the button followed by the button.
Move the cursor to the end of the formula and press the button. The resulting formula should appear
as follows.

Close the Partition Properties dialog with the OK button. A new partition will now appear in the project
tree. With a right mouse click on the new partition, select New>Map from the pull down menu. This will
bring up the Map Properties dialog. Set the Gray Scale Map Type to Image Quality and the Color Coded
Map Type to Phase. Press the Edit >> button for the Color Coded Map Type. In the resulting dialog add
entries for the both the alpha and beta phase. I have selected red and blue for the color respectively in
constructing the following map. Note the large alpha grains in black. The color black denotes point
excluded from the partition. (The "Non-Partition" color can be set in the Preferences Dialog from the
Settings Menu.) Note the fraction of each phase within the partition in the Legend Pane of the Map
Window.

42 OIM Analysis Tutorial

 Misorientation Profile

Step 1 - Highlighting Configuration

In order to prepare for this stage of the tutorial, clear all the highlighting and set the Highlighting
Color Gradient to Rainbow. Switch the highlighting mode to Vector Profile Mode in the Highlighting
Toolbar. Also turn on Record Highlighting . Make sure a map containing the large alpha grains is
available. In the right pane of the map window set the view to Interactive.

In the large alpha grain at the center of the scan do a left mouse click at one end of the grain followed by a
left mouse click at the right end of the grain. This will create a chart showing the misorientation profile.
In the misorientation profile chart the blue curve shows the misorientation from a point on the vector to
the point at the origin of the vector. The red curve shows the misorientation from a point on the vector to
the previous point on the vector. The features of low IQ which appear as boundaries in the grain appear to
be low angle boundaries.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 43

Step 2 - Profile Analysis
To look at the low angle boundaries in the grain in more detail we will use the data appearing in the
Interactive Tab in the right-hand pane of the map window. Dragging on the bar separating the map pane
from the information pane will allow the interactive data to be viewed more closely. Now, let's make sure
the low angle boundaries we see in the point-to-point profile correspond to the low IQ values. To do this
do a right mouse click in the Interactive Tab and select properties from the pop-up menu.

This will bring up a Interactive Properties dialog box allowing the user to set which items will be
displayed in the list. Modify the options to display the Misorientation angle with respect to neighbor,
Distance from origin and Image Quality.

44 OIM Analysis Tutorial

Now scroll through the list and notice that the higher misorientations are indeed accompanied by low IQ
values.

The data in the list can be exported to a text file and imported into other programs such as Microsoft
Excel to allow users to customize their analysis of OIM data. The text files are comma delimited and a
header defines the different columns (in the example below, only the misorientation angle is shown - this
can be selected from the Misorientation Representation in the Interactive Properties dialog box.

Twins Tutorial
Introduction

OIM 4 has some new features for characterizing twins. There are really two criteria for defining twins.

1) The orientation of the twin is related to the parent through a specific misorientation. For example, the
primary recrystallization twin in a face-centered-cubic material is related to the parent by a 60 degree
rotation about the <111> crystal direction.

2) The twinning plane must be aligned with the boundary plane separating the twin from the parent.

Twins which satisfy the first criterion but not the second are sometimes called incoherent twins. Those
that satisfy both criteria are sometimes termed coherent twins. OIM is performed on a section plane
through the material. The boundary plane cannot be determined from a single section plane. Three
dimensional information must be obtained to reconstruct the boundary plane. Thus the alignment between
the twinning plane (which can be obtained from the OIM measurements) and the boundary plane cannot
be confirmed from an OIM scan on a single section plane. However, the trace of the boundary can be
observed and checked against the trace of the twinning plane to confirm alignment.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 45

(For more information see Wright, S. I. and R. J. Larsen (2002). Extracting Twins from Orientation
Imaging Microscopy Scan Data. Journal of Microscopy 205, 245-252.)

This tutorial shows an example of using OIM to characterize twinning using a scan from copper
interconnect lines. In the process the tutorial introduces many aspects of OIM Analysis including:

Loading scan data.

Creating Maps
IQ
Confidence Index (CI)
Grains
Overlaying boundaries on maps (rotation angle, axis/angle, reconstructed, twins type)

Cleanup
Dilation
CI Standardization
Partitioning
Using an explicit formula.
Grains and Twinning
General twins
Coherent Twins
Preferences Dialog

Using the Status Bar

Step 1 - Getting Started

The first step is to create a project and load the appropriate dataset. One easy way to do this is to hit the
QuickNew button on the QuickGen Toolbar. This will bring up a pop-up menu.

46 OIM Analysis Tutorial

Select Project from the menu. To add the dataset to the project, hit the QuickNew button on the
QuickGen Toolbar again and select dataset from the pop-up menu. The file open dialog will appear. Go to
the folder containing the OIM Demo Data and select the file entitled Cu IC Lines.osc. In order to get a
quick impression of the data create an IPF map by hitting the IPF Map button on the QuickGen
Toolbar. This will produce a map that should appear as follows.

The area between the interconnect lines is both low IQ and low CI data. The data is from the silicon
substrate, but in this case, the substrate does not produce indexable patterns.

Step 2 - Cleanup

In order to analyze grain boundaries it is a good idea to clean up the data points at the boundaries. When
the electron beam is on a boundary, the diffracting volume can contain two crystal lattices. One for each
grain on either side of the boundary. The resulting pattern will be a superposition of the patterns from
both lattices. The indexing routines in OIM DC do a pretty good job of deconvoluting the pattern to
identify one or the other of the orientations associated with the two grains. However, sometimes, OIM
indexes the patterns with an orientation associated with neither of the grains resulting in an incorrect
orientation. However, OIM Analysis has several cleanup routines to deal with these types of problems.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 47

One very good way to clean up data at the boundaries is to use the Dilation clean up method. This method
will modify the orientations of points which do not belong to any grains (in OIM grains are groups of
similarly oriented and neighboring data points.) An incorrectly indexed point at a boundary would not
belong to either of the grains separated by the boundary. It would be considered a grain all by itself.
However, for a point or group of points to be identified as a grain in OIM it must contain some minimum
number of data points. This minimum number of points can be configured by the user. For a relatively
high resolution scan as this, an appropriate minimum number would be 5, this means a potential grain
group would need to contain at least five points before denoting it a grain. The following grain maps
show this effect. This map can be generated using the Grain Map button in the QuickGen toolbar and
then using the Zoom In feature to zoom in on the Magenta/Green grain boundary. In these maps,
points in white do not belong to any grains. (There appear to be a few very small grains in the area
between the interconnect lines - however, these points are actually colored black - the color I have chosen
to give points that could not be indexed at all.)

To perform clean-up on this data proceed as follows.

1) In the project tree, click on the dataset with the right mouse button and select Cleanup from the pop-up
menu.

48 OIM Analysis Tutorial

2) In the resulting dialog box, set the cleanup method to Dilation and set the associated parameters as
follows, 5 degrees for the Grain Tolerance angle (the default), 5 for the Minimum Grain Size and make
sure the Single Iteration box is checked on. Hit the OK button.

3) After hitting the OK button, the Grain Dilation cleanup procedure will commence. Once it is
completed, the number of points modified will be displayed and a new dataset will be created in the
project tree.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 49

4) We need to check the grain size parameters. This is done by clicking on the All data partition icon in
the project tree with the right mouse button and selecting properties from the menu. In the resulting
Partition Properties dialog we need to select the grain size tab. We need to change the Minimum Grain
Size to 5. This procedure should be followed for both data sets (Cu IC Lines cleaned and the original Cu
IC Lines).

5) Now create a Grain map for the cleaned dataset to see the effect of the clean up procedure. The
intermediate points at the grain boundaries have been removed for the most part as well as interior points
in the grains. It should also be noted that the interconnect lines have widened by two points on either side
of each line.

50 OIM Analysis Tutorial

In step 2, remember we set the Cleanup to go through only one iteration. The Grain Dilation cleanup
method essentially grows grains one point at a time around the perimeter. The dilation process can
continue to iterate until each point in the scan is associated with an OIM grain. In this interconnect line
data this would result in the lines growing into each other as shown below. (It is interesting to note, that
there are grains with the same orientation in neighboring lines (e.g.. the large cyan grain extends across 3
lines). This is a result of the damascene process used to form the interconnects.)

Step 3 - Isolating the IC Lines

Several methods could be used to isolate the IC lines from the substrate regions in the scan. The following
shows a CI, an IQ and Grain map. The substrate region is clearly correlated with low CI, low IQ and
small grains. One problem with filtering out the low CI or low IQ data, is that the grain boundaries also
exhibit low CI and low IQ. If we simply filter on CI or IQ, we are likely to also exclude scan points near
the grain boundaries. However, there are various approaches to eliminating this problem.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 51

We will show one approach based on a different clean up method - Grain CI Standardization. If a point
with low CI is surrounded by points with similar orientation, then we are confident the correct orientation
has been measured and we would want to upgrade the CI. Grain CI Standardization performs this
upgrading procedure. Since a grain is a collection connected similarly oriented points, we can perform the
upgrade procedure using the grains. The CIs of all points within a grain are upgraded to the CI of the
point in the grain with the maximum CI. To perform the Cleanup procedure, right-click on the dataset and
select Cleanup from the pull-down menu. In the Cleanup dialog, select Grain CI Standardization.

To confirm the results of the Grain CI Standardization, we will generate a new CI map. This is done by
right-mouse clicking on the All data partition in the new dataset - Cu IC Lines cleaned cleaned. Select
New>Map from the pull down menu. In the Map Properties dialog set the Grayscale Map Style to
Confidence Index as shown.

52 OIM Analysis Tutorial

The new map will appear as at left in the screen shot below. Note the boundaries are no longer identified
by low CI values.

Now we want to filter out the data from the substrate regions based on CI. In order to identify an
appropriate cutoff value for CI, move the cursor to areas of low CI in the map and note the CI value in the
status bar as shown below.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 53

Performing this procedure, a value of 0.3 was found to be appropriate. Let's create a new partition under
the most recent cleaned data set as shown below. Select Confidence Index in the Formula Tab of the
Partition Properties Dialog.

Set the boolean operator to and enter the value of 0.3 in the Confidence Index dialog. The result
formula should appear as follows after closing the Confidence Index dialog with the OK button.

54 OIM Analysis Tutorial

After pressing the OK button to close the Partition Properties dialog, the new partition will be created. We
can check how well the filter works by creating a new Unique Grain Color Map within the New Partition.
This is easily done using the Grain Map button on the QuickGen Toolbar. In the screen shot below, I

have maximized the Grain Map window.

The areas in black are those excluded from the partition. The color used to identify the points excluded
from the partition can be set on the Preferences Dialog accessed from the Settings menu as shown below.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 55

Step 4 - Twins

Recall from the introduction that incoherent twins are those twins who meet the twinning misorientation
criterion. In our copper interconnect lines, these are twin boundaries that represent 60 degree rotations
about <111>. In this step we will identify the boundaries which meet the misorientation criterion but not
necessarily the second criterion of the twinning plane aligned with the boundary plane. We will also see
the impact of using the twins in the grain grouping algorithm.

1) In the final partition created in Step 3 - Isolating the IC Lines, create an IQ image using the IQ Map
button on the QuickGen Toolbar.After the map has been created open the properties dialog.

2) Let's first draw general boundaries with misorientations greater than 2 degrees. This is done by setting
Type in the Boundaries section of the Map Properties dialog to Rotation angle as shown above. Press the
Add button to add a boundary to the map. In the Add Boundary dialog set the minimum misorientation to
2 degrees and switch to the Segment page of the dialog and change the color to yellow and make the
boundaries fairly thick as shown below.

56 OIM Analysis Tutorial

3) Now let's focus on the twin boundaries. In the Map Properties dialog, switch the boundary Type to
Axis Angle and hit the Add button again. In the Add Boundary dialog set the rotation axis to <111> and
the rotation angle to 60 degrees. This can be done manually or by clicking on the corresponding entry in
the Twin Presets list. Leave the Tolerance set to 5 degrees.

Set the color to red on the Segment page of the dialog close the dialog by hitting OK.

4) Add the secondary twin by hitting the add button once again and entering <110> for the rotation axis
and 38.9 degrees for the rotation angle or select the secondary twin from the Twin Presets. Change the
color to blue for the boundary. Now close the Add Boundary dialog and the Map Properties dialog. The
resulting map should appear as follows. Using the Zoom In function once can inspect the few blue
secondary twins and note they appear at triple junctions where the two boundaries are the red primary
twins.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 57

5) Now lets look at the impact of excluding these twins from the grain grouping algorithm. Two
neighboring points separated by a twin boundary will be considered to belong to the same grain instead of
separate grains. To do this, click on the current partition with the right mouse button and select copy
document from the pop-up menu.

6) Paste the partition into the Cu IC Lines cleaned cleaned dataset using the right mouse pull-down menu
at the dataset level of the project tree. This will create a copy of the partition with the low CI (CI < 0.3)
point filtered out. It also copies any maps or other documents.

7) Select properties from the right mouse click pull-down menu for the new partition. We will modify the
Grain Size page of the Partition Properties dialog. After selecting the Grain Size tab hit the Define button
in the Twin Boundaries section. Ignore the first page of the Twin Boundaries Wizard for now by pressing

58 OIM Analysis Tutorial

the Next button. On the next page of the Twin Boundaries Wizard add the boundaries in same manner
used in defining the boundaries for the map. Once the boundaries have been added, hit the Finish button
followed by the OK button. The grain grouping algorithm will then operate on the scan data.

OIM Analysis Tutorial 59

8) Now compare the Grain Maps from the two filtered partitions. (I've renamed the partitions in my
example to show which is which - this can be done using pull-down menu for the partition and selecting
Rename.

Note that the twins have been excluded from the grain grouping algorithm However, note the IC line
second from the right. It is now all one single grain. This is unlikely and points to the need for looking at
the second twin criterion.

Step 5 - Coherent Twins

We will now expand our definition of twins to include the alignment of the twinning plane with the
boundary plane. As mentioned in the tutorial introduction, the boundary plane cannot be completely
characterized using a single section plane. However, we can identify the boundary trace. In OIM
boundaries appear as a set of line segments that follow the scan grid. In order to characterize the trace we
would like to determine the angle the boundary trace makes with respect to some sample axis (in this case
the horizontal axis in the map). If we simply use the boundary segments the angle is limited to multiples
of 60 degrees. However, we can link the segments together and fit a straight line to the segments. In OIM
these lines are termed Reconstructed Boundaries. We will investigate the boundaries in the scan data to
see which boundaries satisfy both the twin misorientation relationship as well as the alignment in
boundary and twin plane traces.

1) Create an IQ map in the partition without twins defined for the grain size calculations. Open the map
properties and setup the twin boundaries similar as done before with the 60@<111> boundaries in red and
the 38.9@<110> boundaries in blue. Now we also want to see all of the reconstructed boundaries. Select
Reconstructed Boundaries from the Boundary Types pull down list and hit the Add button. I've made
these boundaries green in the portion of the map shown below.

60 OIM Analysis Tutorial

3) Now lets identify which of the boundaries satisfying the twin misorientation criteria (i.e. the red and
blue boundaries in the above map) also satisfy the plane trace alignment criterion. Once again open the
Map Properties. Set the Boundary Type to Reconstructed Twins and press Add. For the primary twin, set
the rotation angle to 60 degrees, the rotation axis to <111> and the twinning plane to {111} as well. Use
the default tolerances. Set the color to magenta. For the secondary twin set the angle to 38.9 degrees, the
rotation axis to <110>, twinning plane to {110} and the color to cyan. Of course the Twin Presets can be
used in defining twin boundaries. This will result in the following map. Note that some of the red
boundary segments are not associated with the corresponding magenta reconstructed boundaries. This
means that while the grain boundary satisfies the misorientation relationship of 60 degrees about <111>,
the twinning plane is not aligned with the boundary plane.

3) Now we can apply the plane trace criterion to the grain formation in OIM. First copy the most recent
partition with the twins defined and paste it into the dataset. Open the Partition Properties and hit the

OIM Analysis Tutorial 61

Define button on the Grain Size page of the dialog. On the first page, check on the Enforce Trace
Matching check box. Hit the Next button. On the next page, double click on each of the twin and make
sure the twin planes are correct (i.e. {111} for the primary twin and {110} for the secondary). After
hitting Finish for the Twin Wizard and OK for the Partition Properties dialog the grains grouping
algorithm will be performed using the stricter twin criterion. The resulting grains maps should appear as
follows.

While the methodology is not perfect (for reconstructed boundaries the smaller ones do not capture the
trace angle very well) it gives the best approximation to the true grain size distribution.

62 OIM Analysis Tutorial