Patent ID: 7718981

Claim:
A. composite charged-particle beam system comprising at least a focused ion beam apparatus, a scanning electron microscope, a gas ion beam apparatus and a sample stage, wherein said sample stage includes an eucentric tilt mechanism for tilting at least a sample at an identical height, and a sample stage rotating shaft orthogonal to an eucentric tilt axis serving as an axis of said eucentric tilt mechanism, and said focused ion beam apparatus, said scanning electron microscope and said gas ion beam apparatus are arranged and adjusted such that a focused ion beam emitted from said focused ion beam apparatus, an electron beam emitted from said scanning electron microscope and a gas ion beam emitted from said gas ion beam apparatus intersect at an area defined as a single point, and are arranged such that an axis of a lens-barrel of said focused ion beam apparatus and an axis of a lens-barrel of said electron microscope are substantially orthogonal to said eucentric tilt axis, respectively, and the axis of the lens-barrel of said focused ion beam, an axis of a lens-barrel of said gas ion beam and said eucentric tilt axis are in one plane.