Patent ID: 8306264

Claim:
A section processing apparatus comprising: a mark forming control portion that transmits control information for forming marks on a surface of a sample, each of the marks having at least two portions intersecting at a converging portion located at a previously determined position of an observation target section of the sample or in the vicinity of the previously determined position; a first focused ion beam apparatus that emits a first focused beam for forming each of the marks on the surface of the sample based on the control information transmitted by the mark forming control portion and for processing a section of the sample; and a second focused ion beam apparatus that emits a second focused beam for observing the section of the sample processed by the first focused beam of the first focused ion beam apparatus; wherein the first focused ion beam apparatus is configured to process the section of the sample by scanning the first focused beam in parallel with the at least two portions of the marks in the direction of the converging portion, while the section of the sample being processed and positions of the marks are observed by the second focused ion beam apparatus, and to finish processing of the section of the sample when the first focused beam reaches the converging portion or a vicinity thereof.