Patent ID: 8740209

Claim:
A specimen carrier for use with an ex-situ lift-out (EXLO) milling process, the carrier comprising: a carrier top surface having at least one specimen support area; an aperture formed through the specimen carrier top surface within the specimen support area and having a wider upper end and a narrower lower end, said aperture having a first opening adjacent to the top surface and a recessed opening aligned with said first opening; said first opening bounded by opposed sidewalls in spaced-apart orientation that are inwardly inclined from the wider upper end to the narrower lower end; said recessed opening bounded by opposed sidewalls in spaced-apart orientation narrower than the opposed sidewalls of the first opening to thereby define a resting surface between the sidewalls of the first opening and the sidewalls of the recessed opening, the specimen carrier being configured to enable a specimen to sit over the recessed opening on the resting surface and below the carrier top surface and wedged between the first opening opposed sidewalls so that a region of interest to be milled is centered about the recessed opening.