GIFT already offers an instrument-specific TEM course, and student demand for TEM education is high. This course complements the existing TEM course by accommodating additional student demand, while moving beyond stand-alone TEM analysis to teach correlative EBSD–TEM–APT characterization and the interpretation of microstructure–property relationships. Two foundation modules on strengthening and ordering provide the physical-metallurgical context needed to interpret characterization results. It is not designed as another mechanical-behavior course; instead, it focuses on how analytical evidence from different length scales is selected, validated, correlated, and used to understand material-property response.

Basic crystallography, physical metallurgy, or materials characterization (recommended)

1. A. J. Schwartz et al. (eds.), Electron Backscatter Diffraction in Materials Science, Springer.
2. D. B. Williams and C. B. Carter, Transmission Electron Microscopy: A Textbook for Materials Science, Springer.
3. M. K. Miller and R. G. Forbes, Atom-Probe Tomography: The Local Electrode Atom Probe, Springer.
4. J. I. Goldstein et al., Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-Ray Microanalysis, Springer.
5. Selected recent journal articles from Nature, Science, Acta Materialia, and other leading materials journals on correlative microscopy, ordering, defect/interface analysis, and microstructure–property interpretation

1 Course Framework: From Microstructure to Property Role of multiscale characterization in physical metallurgy; process–microstructure–property evidence chains; defining a characterization question; complementary versus redundant measurements.
2 Strengthening Mechanisms as a Characterization Problem Grain-size, solid-solution, dislocation, precipitation, and interface strengthening; which microstructural parameters must be measured to distinguish competing mechanisms.
3 Ordering and Ordered Structures in Metallic Materials Short-range and long-range order, order–disorder transformations, antiphase boundaries, ordered precipitates, and how ordering influences deformation and properties; characterization signatures to be revisited in TEM and APT.
4 EBSD I: Crystallography, Phases, and Texture EBSD principles, specimen preparation, orientation mapping, phase identification, grain boundaries, texture, indexing quality, spatial resolution, and measurement limits.
5 EBSD II: Deformation-Sensitive and Site-Specific Analysis KAM, local misorientation, GND density, strain localization, pattern quality, introduction to HR-EBSD, and EBSD-guided selection of regions for TEM/APT analysis.
6 TEM/STEM I: Principles, Diffraction, and Image Formation Electron optics, diffraction, contrast formation, imaging modes, reciprocal-space interpretation, spatial resolution, and information limits; principles required for reliable defect and phase analysis.
7 TEM/STEM II: Defects, Interfaces, and Ordered Structures Dislocations, stacking faults, twins, antiphase boundaries, phase boundaries, transformation products, precipitates, and defect–particle interactions; diffraction and contrast approaches for identifying ordering.
8 TEM/STEM III: Analytical STEM and Correlative EBSD–TEM STEM-EDS/EELS, chemical mapping, site-specific specimen preparation, quantitative limitations, same-region analysis, crystallographic registration, and connecting EBSD maps to nanoscale TEM/STEM observations.
9 Midterm Examination
10 APT I: Principles, Reconstruction, and Reliability Field evaporation, time-of-flight mass spectrometry, detector concepts, 3D reconstruction, spatial resolution, detection efficiency, trajectory effects, and common artifacts.
11 APT II: Segregation, Clustering, and Precipitation Quantitative local chemistry; grain-boundary and interface segregation, solute clustering, nanoscale precipitates, proxigrams, concentration profiles, cluster analysis, statistical tests, and uncertainty.
12 APT III: Ordering, Interfaces, Hydrogen, and Correlative Analysis APT approaches to chemical ordering and local compositional correlations; spatial distribution analysis; interface and defect chemistry; hydrogen and deuterium analysis by APT, including hydrogen charging, cryogenic specimen handling, background hydrogen, peak identification, and key interpretation challenges; practical limitations; linking APT chemistry with TEM structure and EBSD crystallography.
13 Correlative EBSD–TEM–APT Workflow Design Same-region and same-defect analysis across length scales; site-specific targeting, coordinate and crystallographic registration, structural–chemical correlation, cross-validation, and choosing the minimum sufficient combination of techniques.
14 Literature Case Studies I: Critical Review of High-Impact Research Critical review of representative studies published in Nature, Science, and Acta Materialia, with emphasis on how advanced characterization is used to address strengthening, ordering, phase-transformation, and defect/interface questions. Students examine experimental design, choice of characterization methods, quality of evidence, and interpretation of microstructure–property relationships.
15 Literature Case Studies II: Correlative Evidence and Structure–Property Claims Continuation of Week 14 through comparative review of additional studies from Nature, Science, and Acta Materialia. Particular attention is given to how EBSD, TEM/STEM, and APT evidence is correlated across length scales, how limitations and uncertainty are handled, and how convincingly the combined evidence establishes microstructure–property relationships.
16 Final Examination Comprehensive final examination covering strengthening and ordering foundations; EBSD, TEM/STEM, and APT principles and interpretation; correlative workflow design; artifacts and limitations; and critical analysis of microstructure–property relationships.