  Our understanding of quantum materials is commonly based on precise
determinations of their electronic spectrum by spectroscopic means, most
notably angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and scanning
tunneling microscopy (STM). Both require atomically clean and flat crystal
surfaces which traditionally are prepared by in-situ mechanical cleaving in
ultrahigh vacuum chambers. We present a new approach that addresses three main
issues of the current state-of-the-art methods: 1) Cleaving is a highly
stochastic and thus inefficient process; 2) Fracture processes are governed by
the bonds in a bulk crystal, and many materials and surfaces simply do not
cleave; 3) The location of the cleave is random, preventing data collection at
specified regions of interest. Our new workflow is based on Focused Ion Beam
(FIB) machining of micro-stress lenses in which shape (rather than crystalline)
anisotropy dictates the plane of cleavage, which can be placed at a specific
target layer. As proof-of-principle we show ARPES results from micro-cleaves of
Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ along the ac plane and from two surface orientations of
SrTiO$_3$, a notoriously difficult to cleave cubic perovskite.
