Patent ID: 8222618

Claim:
An apparatus for processing and observing a minute sample comprising: a first sample stage on which a sample is placed, said first sample stage being movable in a longitudinal direction, in a horizontal direction and in a vertical direction, and rotatable and tiltable; a second sample stage on which a minute sample extracted from the sample is fixed and which is adapted to change irradiation angles of an ion beam and an electron beam to the minute sample and a height of the minute sample; a sample chamber in which the first and second sample stages are arranged; a focused ion beam optical system for irradiating the ion beam to the sample placed on the first sample stage and the minute sample fixed on the second sample stage; an electron beam optical system for irradiating the electron beam to the minute sample fixed on the second sample stage, said electron beam optical system being arranged such that an axis of electron beam intersects with an axis of ion beam of said focused ion beam optical system in said sample chamber; a detector for detecting a secondary particle; and a manipulator for supporting the minute sample, wherein the ion beam irradiates the minute sample fixed on the second sample stage to form a desired observation section upon the minute sample extracted from the sample, and wherein the electron beam irradiates the desired observation section of the minute sample, the irradiation angle of the electron beam to the observation section of the minute sample is changed by the second sample stage so as to be substantially perpendicular to the observation section of the minute sample the minute sample is moved with respect to the electron beam optical system to be positioned at a position where an optical resolution of the minute sample by means of the electron beam optical system becomes high, and the electron beam is applied substantially perpendicular to the observation section of the minute sample fixed on the second sample stage and the observation section of the minute sample is perpendicularly observed and an internal section of the sample is measured.