Joint nanoscale three-dimensional imaging and chemical analysis

1. A method for joint 3D imaging and chemical analysis of a sample comprising:

a) obtaining a sequence of two-dimensional images of said sample by a device, the sequence of two-dimensional images are based on secondary electron detection, the images of said sequence being taken from different viewing angles, and combining said two-dimensional images into a three-dimensional representation of the sample;

b) obtaining a representation of a chemical composition of said sample by the device, wherein obtaining the representation of the chemical composition is performed in-situ with obtaining the sequence of two-dimensional images of said sample, wherein during said secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis step b), the sample is irradiated using a second primary charged particle beam, thereby releasing secondary ions from the sample, and wherein the second primary charged particle beam is an ion beam; and

c) mapping the representation of the chemical composition and the three-dimensional representation of the sample and recording a result in a memory element.

2. The method according to claim 1 ,

wherein during said secondary electron imaging step a), the sample is irradiated using a first primary charged particle beam for taking a two-dimensional image, thereby releasing secondary electrons from the sample.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the first primary charged particle beam is an ion beam.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein a first primary ion beam is an He + beam, and wherein a second primary ion beam is an Ne + beam.

5. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the first primary charged particle beam is an electron beam.

6. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the first primary charged particle beam is an electron beam and the second primary charged particle beam is an ion beam.

7. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the first primary charged particle beam is an ion beam.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein during said secondary electron imaging step a), a relative position of said sample with respect to said secondary electron detection is changed.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein said position is changed by changing an orientation of the sample with respect to the secondary electron detection.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein step a) is performed prior to step b), or vice-versa.

11. A device for performing joint 3D in-situ imaging and chemical analysis of a sample, the device comprising a memory storing instructions when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

a) obtain a sequence of two-dimensional images of said sample by the device, the sequence of two-dimensional images are based on secondary electron detection, the images of said sequence being taken from different viewing angles, and combine said two-dimensional images into a three-dimensional representation of the sample;

b) obtain a representation of a chemical composition of said sample by the device, wherein the representation of the chemical composition is obtained by in-situ performance with obtaining the sequence of two-dimensional images of said sample, wherein during said secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis step b), the sample is irradiated using a second primary charged particle beam, to release secondary ions from the sample, and wherein the second primary charged particle beam is an ion beam; and

c) map the representation of the chemical composition and the three-dimensional representation of the sample and record a result in a memory element.

12. The device according to claim 11 , wherein the device is configured to generate a first primary charged particle beam and a second primary charged particle beam.

13. The device according to claim 12 , wherein an ion source is shared and utilized to generate the first primary charged particle beam and the second primary charged particle beam.

14. The device according to claim 13 , wherein said ion source comprises a gas field ion source.

15. The device according to claim 11 , wherein said sample holder comprises a rotatable stage for rotating the sample with respect to an emission axis utilized during generation of the first primary charged particle beam and the second primary charged particle beam.