The authors have performed Ar+ broad ion beam sputtering of a polycrystalline Fe-Si-Al alloy at normal incidence at energies varying from 6 to 10 keV. Sputtering results in the formation of etch pits, which can be classified in three shapes: triangular, rectangular, and square. As each grain of individual orientation exhibits a certain type of pattern, the etch pits were correlated with the crystal orientations by electron backscattered diffraction technique. (C) 2010 American Vacuum Society [DOI: 10.1116/1.3360924]