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Updated: Jul 16, 2025

Micro/Nano-scale Strain Distribution Measurement from Sampling Moiré Fringes
Published on: May 23, 2017
Relation between sampling, sensitivity and precision in strain mapping using the Geometric Phase Analysis method in
A Pofelski1, Y Zhu2, G A Botton3
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L7, Canada; Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA.
Abstract:
The sensitivity and the precision of the Geometric Phase Analysis (GPA) method for strain characterization is a topic widely discussed in the literature and is usually difficult to quantify. Indeed, the GPA precision is intricately linked to the resolution of the strain maps defined when masking the periodic reflections in Fourier space. In this study an additional parameter, sampling, is proposed to be analyzed regarding the precision of GPA by developing the concept of a phase noise in the GPA equations. Both experimentally and theoretically, the following article demonstrates how the precision, and the sensitivity of the GPA method is improved when using a larger pixel spacing to record an electron micrograph in Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM). The counterintuitive concept of increasing the field of view to improve the GPA precision results is an extension of the application of strain characterization methods in STEM towards low deformation levels.
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