The process of drilling a hole on the surface of a material is called sample drilling. A common example of this is when an oil company wants to test the flow rate of a particular liquid being pumped into the ground. By mounting a sample drill on the surface and taking some samples as they flow, the company can determine the flow rate and, therefore, test the efficiency of their production process. There are also many other uses for drilling. Some examples are sample testing of various plastics before they are released into the market, sample drilling of various materials to evaluate their tensile strength, or sample of soil to identify the type of clay or sand in it.
Drilling holes into the surface is normally made with a drill bit pushed into the material at high speed until it makes a hole that pushes out a sample of the material. This is usually done by either the drilling firm itself or by professional, scientific equipment driven by an electric motor and has a drill bit with a diamond blade attached.