Patent ID: 8723144

Claim:
An apparatus for forming, extracting and imaging a sample of an object, the apparatus comprising: a) a vacuum chamber; b) an ion beam source for forming the sample, at least partly situated within said vacuum chamber wherein said ion beam source includes an ion beam column that is tiltable relative to at least one stage for supporting the object; c) a robotic manipulator for extracting and manipulating the sample, at least partly situated within said vacuum chamber; d) a first electron microscopy device for imaging the sample such that a first portion of an electron beam traverses at least a portion of the sample, at least partly situated within said vacuum chamber, wherein the first electron microscopy device includes a scanning electron microscope (SEM) column, a SEM detector for detecting at least one of secondary and backscattered electrons and a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) detector for detecting electrons that pass through the sample; e) the at least one stage for supporting the object; f) a sample support for supporting the sample, wherein the sample support includes an aperture and the sample support is attached to the at least one stage, the sample support and the at least one stage are movable as a single unit, and the single unit is enabled to support the sample and the object at the same time; g) an electron beam source for emitting said electron beam, wherein the first portion of said electron beam traverses at least the portion of said sample and a second portion of said electron beam is scattered off of a surface of said sample, and wherein the electron beam source is at least partly situated inside said vacuum chamber; h) the STEM detector for detecting electrons derived from said first portion of said electron beam, at least partly situated inside said vacuum chamber, wherein said electron beam source and said STEM detector are situated on opposite sides of an upper surface of the sample support such that said first portion of said electron beam traverses said upper surface of said sample support and said aperture in said sample support and is detected by said STEM detector; i) an auger electron detector, for detecting auger electrons derived from said second portion of said electron beam, wherein said auger electron detector is at least partly situated inside said vacuum chamber; and j) an x-ray detector, for detecting x-rays derived from said second portion of said electron beam, wherein said x-ray detector is at least partly situated inside said vacuum chamber.