When simultaneous EDS/EBSD collection can be achieved, the capabilities of both techniques can be enhanced. There are applications where sample chemistry or phase cannot be differentiated via EDS alone because of similar composition, and structure cannot be solved with EBSD alone because of ambiguous structure solutions. To accomplish integrated mapping, the analysis area is scanned, and at each point, Hough peaks and EDS region-of-interest counts are stored. Positions of phases are determined in X-ray maps, and each element's measured EDS intensities are given in charts. The chemical intensity ranges are set for each phase to select the grains. All patterns are then re-indexed off-line. The recorded chemistry determines which phase/crystal-structure file is used to index each point. Each pattern is indexed by only one phase, and maps displaying distinguished phases are generated. The interaction volumes for EDS and EBSD are significantly different (on the order of micrometres compared to tens of nanometres), and the shape of these volumes using a highly tilted sample may have implications on algorithms for phase discrimination.
EBSD, when used together with other in-SEM techniques such as cathodoluminescence (CL), wavelength dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (WDS) and/or EDS can provide a deeper insight into the specimen's properties and enhance phase identification. For example, the minerals calcite (limestone) and aragonite (shell) have the same chemical composition – calcium carbonate (CaCO) therefore EDS/WDS cannot tell them apart, but they have different microcrystalline structures so EBSD can differentiate between them.