Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A method of sample formation and imaging comprising:a) placing an object into a vacuum chamber;b) forming a sample from said object; andc) imaging said sample, wherein at least a portion of an electron beam traverses at least a portion of said sample, wherein said forming and imaging are carried out in said vacuum chamber. 2. The method of claim 1 wherein said object is penetrated to a depth of at most 10% of a thickness of said object during said stage of forming. 3. The method of claim 1 wherein said stage of forming includes a beam milling selected from the group consisting of ion beam milling and electron beam milling. 4. The method of claim 1 wherein said electron beam is incident substantially normally to an object cross section surface of said sample. 5. The method of claim 1 wherein said imaging includes imaging said object cross section surface. 6. The method of claim 1 wherein said sample is situated on a surface of said sample support such that an object cross section surface of said sample is substantially parallel to said surface of said sample support. 7. A method of sample formation and imaging comprising:a) providing an object in a vacuum chamber;b) forming a sample from the object inside said vacuum chamber;c) thinning at least a portion of the sample with an ion beam; andd) imaging the thinned sample, wherein at least a portion of said sample is subjected to a electron beam, wherein said thinning and imaging are repeated at least once while said sample is inside said vacuum chamber, thereby providing a plurality of images. 8. The method of claim 7 wherein said stage of forming includes a beam milling selected from the group consisting of ion beam milling and electron beam milling. 9. The method of claim 7 wherein said imaging includes imaging an object cross section surface of the sample. 10. The method of claim 7 wherein at least one said stage of imaging includes detecting photons. 11. The method of claim 7 wherein said thinning and imaging are repeated at least once until said at least a portion of said sample is eliminated by said thinning. 12. The method of claim 7 wherein said stage of thinning includes subjecting said sample to at least one ion beam selected from the group consisting of a focused ion beam and a beam of argon ions. 13. The method of claim 7 wherein said thinning includes selective removal of material. 14. The method of claim 7 wherein said thinning includes subjecting said sample to a particle beam incident substantially normally to said object cross section surface, said particle beam selected from the group consisting of an ion beam and electron beam.