In our initial studies of the phase identification analysis of individual particles by EBSD, we observed that the quality of the EBSD patterns obtained from particles less than 1 micrometer in size decreased with decreasing particle size, density, and atomic number. This effect is shown in FIG. 1 by comparison of an EBSD pattern from a 12 um Al2O3 particle (FIG. la) and a 200 nm Al2O3 particle FIG. lb. Both particles were mounted on 2 mm thick carbon substrates. The Kikuchi bands from the larger particle are clearly visible while the bands from the smaller particle are not. This decrease in image quality is believed to be the result of a combination of 2 factors related to the electron scattering associated with these very small particles. First, as particle size decreases below about 1 micrometer, an increasing number of electrons are transmitted through the bottom of the particles.