Patent ID: 7094312

Claim:
A charged particle beam system for milling and imaging a work piece, the system comprising: a housing for housing the workpiece; a work stage assembly adapted a) for supporting the workpiece, b) for translating the workpiece along a first axis, c) for translating the workpiece along a second axis perpendicular to the first axis, and d) for rotating the workpiece about a third axis perpendicular to both the first axis and the second axis, said work stage assembly having a work stage axis substantially parallel to the third axis, and the work stage assembly not being tiltable about the first axis or the second axis; a first particle beam source for interacting with the work piece, said particle beam source having a first particle beam source axis, the first particle beam source axis oriented at an acute angle greater than 0 degrees with the third axis; and a second particle beam source for interacting with the work piece, said second particle beam source having a second particle beam source axis oriented to form an acute angle greater than 0 degrees with the third axis, the particle beam sources being arranged such that one of the particle beam, sources can be used to mill the workpiece and the other particle beam source can be used to image the workpiece.