Past exam of the materials science course of the University of Cambridge / 2022 / Paper 1 / 3 / c / Solution

Choose an objective aperture around a precipitate superlattice reflection, such as $100$, which is absent from the disordered aluminium matrix. The selected beam then makes precipitates bright in dark-field transmission electron microscopy, while the matrix gives little intensity in that beam. Tilt the grain to place the chosen reflection close to its Bragg diffraction condition and preferably approach a two-beam geometry. This reduces excitation error and can increase precipitate brightness; the exact maximum also depends on foil thickness, strain and dynamical scattering. Selecting a shared fundamental reflection would give much poorer chemical-order selectivity.