Plan view sample preparation

An apparatus for processing a sample, comprising

• an ion beam column;
• a sample stage having a sample stage plane, the sample stage capable of moving in at least two dimensions and of rotating about a vertical axis;
• a probe, the probe being rotatable around a shaft axis, the shaft axis oriented at a shaft angle in relation to the sample stage plane, the shaft angle being non-normal to the sample stage plane;
• a controller, the controller causing the ion beam column, the sample stage, the probe, to perform the steps of:
• supporting a first work piece on the sample stage, the first work piece including a lamella plane;
• milling a sample from the first work piece using an ion beam from the ion beam column so that the sample is substantially free from the first work piece;
• attaching the probe to the sample;
• rotating the probe about the shaft axis through a rotational angle;
• attaching the sample to or placing the sample on:
• the first work piece, the first work piece being the work piece from which the sample was milled;
• or
• a second work piece, the second work piece being a work piece from which the sample was not milled;
• and
• thinning the sample using the ion beam column to form a lamella, the lamella being oriented in the lamella plane.