A method of manipulating a sample to form a planar view TEM sample in a charged particle beam system including an ion beam column, the method comprising: providing a substrate (202, 622) on a sample stage in a vacuum chamber of the charged particle beam system, the sample stage having a sample stage plane; freeing a sample (200, 502) from the substrate using an ion beam, the sample having a major surface that is parallel to the sample stage plane, and the sample having a wedge-shaped backside comprising material to be removed by an ion beam; and attaching a probe to the sample; wherein, the probe includes a shaft having a shaft axis, the shaft axis oriented at a shaft angle of about 45 degrees in relation to the sample stage plane and the major surface in its untilted orientation; reorienting the major surface of the sample by rotating the shaft of the probe about its axis through a first rotational angle of about 180 degrees to rotate the major surface of the sample attached to the probe by an orientational angle of about 90 degrees so that the major surface of the sample is perpendicular to the sample stage plane and parallel to the plane of a vertically orientated sample holder; attaching the sample to the vertically oriented TEM sample holder on the sample stage so that the major surface of the sample is perpendicular to the horizontally oriented sample stage plane; detaching the probe from the sample; rotating and tilting the sample stage to present the wedge-shaped backside of the sample to the ion beam so that the wedge-shaped backside is perpendicular to the ion beam; and thinning the sample on the TEM sample holder with the ion beam to remove material from the wedge-shaped backside of the sample to form a planar view TEM sample having a sample face parallel to the major surface, all of the previous steps accomplished without removing the sample from the vacuum chamber. providing a substrate (202, 622) on a sample stage in a vacuum chamber of the charged particle beam system, the sample stage having a sample stage plane; freeing a sample (200, 502) from the substrate using an ion beam, the sample having a major surface that is parallel to the sample stage plane, and the sample having a wedge-shaped backside comprising material to be removed by an ion beam; and attaching a probe to the sample; wherein, the probe includes a shaft having a shaft axis, the shaft axis oriented at a shaft angle of about 45 degrees in relation to the sample stage plane and the major surface in its untilted orientation; reorienting the major surface of the sample by rotating the shaft of the probe about its axis through a first rotational angle of about 180 degrees to rotate the major surface of the sample attached to the probe by an orientational angle of about 90 degrees so that the major surface of the sample is perpendicular to the sample stage plane and parallel to the plane of a vertically orientated sample holder; attaching the sample to the vertically oriented TEM sample holder on the sample stage so that the major surface of the sample is perpendicular to the horizontally oriented sample stage plane; detaching the probe from the sample; rotating and tilting the sample stage to present the wedge-shaped backside of the sample to the ion beam so that the wedge-shaped backside is perpendicular to the ion beam; and thinning the sample on the TEM sample holder with the ion beam to remove material from the wedge-shaped backside of the sample to form a planar view TEM sample having a sample face parallel to the major surface, all of the previous steps accomplished without removing the sample from the vacuum chamber.