Fully vacuum-sealed addressable nanowire cold cathode flat-panel x-ray source

Abstract

Addressable flat-panel x-ray source has important applications in next-generation low-dose x-ray imaging technology. In this study, a fully vacuum-sealed addressable flat-panel x-ray source has been fabricated using a ZnO nanowire cold cathode. The x-ray source was formed by assembling gated ZnO nanowire field emitters and a molybdenum thin film transmission anode target. Pulsed and addressable x-ray emission was achieved by applying voltages to the extraction gate. Radiation dose rates of 235 nGy/s were achieved when the device was operated at 21 kV anode voltage and 140 V gate voltage. Projection x-ray images of objects were obtained by the flat-panel x-ray source. Our results demonstrated the feasibility of a fully addressable cold cathode flat-panel x-ray source.