There is provided a focused ion beam processing method in which damage to
a workpiece is minimized when the surface of the workpiece is irradiated
and processed with an ion beam. The method comprises the steps of:
generating an acceleration voltage between an ion source and a workpiece;
focusing an ion beam emitted from the ion source; and applying the ion
beam to a predetermined process position to process the surface of the
workpiece. In this process, the energy level of the ion beam produced by
the acceleration voltage is set within a range from at least 1 keV to
less than 20 keV.