Study of grain morphology of various magnetite samples by means of EBSD

(001)- and (111)-oriented magnetite thin films were grown on MgO substrates (film thickness 200 nm) by means of oxygen-plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy and by laser-ablation. Further samples are electroplated magnetite thin films on Si/copper substrates and films from biogenic magnetite. The achieved grain orientations are analysed by means of the electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) technique. The EBSD technique enables the crystallographic orientation of individual grains to be determined with a high spatial resolution of up to 40 nm on such ceramic materials. A high image quality of the recorded Kikuchi patterns was achieved enabling multi-phase scans (e.g., Fe3O4, MgO, Fe2O3). The facets of individual grains are analysed in detail.