Crystals are a vital component of many machines. Familiar materials used in industry contain polycrystalline components, including metal alloys, ceramics and semiconductors.

As polycrystals are made up of many crystals, they have a complex microstructure and their properties vary greatly depending on how the crystal grains are orientated. This is especially important for the silicon crystals used in solar cells, smartphones and computers.

“To obtain a polycrystalline material that can be used effectively in industry, control and measurement of grain orientation distribution is required,” said Professor Noritaka Usami, of Nagoya University.

“However, this is hindered by the expensive equipment and time current techniques need to measure large-area samples.”

A Nagoya University team consisting of Professor Usami from the Graduate School of Engineering and Professor Hiroaki Kudo from the Graduate School of Informatics, in collaboration with RIKEN, have applied...