| AVS 63rd International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Nanometer-scale Science and Technology | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session NS-TuP |
| Session: | Nanometer-scale Science & Technology Poster Session |
| Presenter: | Jun-Tae Kang, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Republic of Korea |
| Authors: | J.T. Kang, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Republic of Korea J.W. Jeong, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Republic of Korea J.W. Kim, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Republic of Korea Y.C. Choi, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Republic of Korea S.H. Kim, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Republic of Korea H. Jeon, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Republic of Korea S. Park, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Republic of Korea M.S. Shin, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Republic of Korea J.H. Yeon, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Republic of Korea E. Go, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Republic of Korea J.W. Lee, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Republic of Korea Y.H. Song, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Republic of Korea |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Carbon nanotube (CNT) field emitters are being considered as a promising electron source of x-ray tube, which is expected to overcome the limitations of conventional thermionic tubes. The thermionic x-ray tube has been fabricated using a hot cathode, causing analog behaviors like slow response time. On the other hand, the field-emission x-ray tube with CNT emitters can be digitally addressed, which makes it possible to give a very short exposure time. The high x-ray dose rate in a very short exposure time is very important for achieving clear x-ray images.
We have successfully fabricated a digital x-ray tube with CNT field emitters for medical applications. The x-ray tube sealed in a vacuum level of below 5×10−6 Torr consists of a CNT field emission gun and a rotating anode made of W/Re target on a Mo block. The field emission current over 100 mA is attained by the gate bias of several kV and is fast modulated through an active-current control at the cathode node, showing a very short x-ray pulse under submicron seconds at a high dose rate. The developed x-ray tube is expected to be used in the advanced diagnostic imaging system with a very short exposure time and high x-ray dose.