Microscopy sample preparation methods and associated systems

A method comprising:

• extracting a sample specimen from a bulk sample positioned within a chamber of a charged particle microscope (CPM) system;
• imaging the sample specimen to produce a sample image representing a surface plane of the sample specimen;
• producing a set of projected sample characterization values associated with each of a plurality of sample tilt angles, each projected sample characterization value representing features of the sample image projected along a processing axis corresponding to the sample tilt angle;
• identifying a preferred sample tilt angle among the plurality of sample tilt angles;
• rotating the sample specimen to an orientation corresponding to the preferred sample tilt angle;
• and
• processing, with a focused ion beam (FIB) system of the CPM system, the sample specimen to produce a lamella.

A system comprising:

• a focused ion beam (FIB) system configured to direct and focus an ion beam toward a sample specimen along an ion beam axis;
• a stage configured to rotate the sample specimen relative to the ion beam;
• and
• a controller comprising a processor system and a computer-readable medium storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor system, cause the processor system to:
• produce a set of projected sample characterization values associated with each of a plurality of processing axes, wherein the producing the set of projected sample characterization values comprises, for each processing axis of the plurality of processing axes:
• producing a planar representation of a sample specimen, wherein the planar representation comprises sample characterization values mapped onto a two-dimensional array of representation locations corresponding to respective portions of the sample specimen;
• and
• projecting the sample characterization values along an axis of the planar representation corresponding to the processing axis;
• identify a preferred processing axis based on the projected sample characterization values;
• and
• cause the stage to rotate the sample specimen relative to the ion beam axis such that the ion beam approaches the sample specimen along the preferred processing axis.