  We measured the physical lateral resolution of the electron backscatter
diffraction (EBSD) technique for the case of pure magnesium and tungsten.
Spatial resolution, among other parameters, depends significantly on the
accelerating voltage and the atomic number of the material. For the case of
lighter metals, it is supposed to be lower than in the case of heavier metals
for a given accelerating voltage. In the present work, lateral resolution was
measured in dependence of accelerating voltage on a straight high angle grain
boundary which was positioned parallel (horizontal boundary) and perpendicular
(vertical boundary) to the tilt axis of the specimen. For magnesium the best
lateral resolution of 240 nm was obtained at an accelerating voltage of 5 kV.
The resolution dramatically worsened to values as high as 3500 nm as the
voltage was increased from 15 kV to 30 kV. The aspect ratio of horizontal and
vertical lateral resolution tended to 1.0 at the accelerating voltage of 5 kV
and to 2.5 at the accelerating voltage of 30 kV. These values as function of
accelerating voltages were compared with those obtained on the high atomic
number metal tungsten. Here resolution at 5 kV was about a quarter of that of
magnesium. With increasing voltage, the value almost didnt change. For all
voltages the resolution aspect ratio stayed close to 1.0.
