X-RAY SOURCE

The invention relates to an X-ray source including an X-ray cathode.

X-Rays are frequently generated by an X-ray source, often in the form of a vacuum tube including a cathode and anode. Electrons from the cathode are accelerated towards the anode by a strong electric field and generate X-rays on collision with the anode. These pass out of the X-ray tube through a window, typically of beryllium.

Electrons are emitted by thermionic emission from the cathode by heating the cathode. For high power tubes the cathode may typically be of tungsten, which has the advantage that it is stable at a high temperature (2400K) that is used to achieve sufficient thermionic emission. Even at 2400K tungsten does not melt or deform. At these high temperatures heat radiation is significant and so the cathode can equilibrate effectively by heat radiation.

A description of an existing X-ray tube for X-ray analysis is provided in EP 553 913.

A disadvantage with tungsten cathodes is that significant electrical power is needed to attain and maintain the required high temperature. Significant cooling is also required. Moreover, evaporation can take place at the high temperatures resulting in contamination of the window which in turn reduces X-ray power and may contaminate the X-ray spectrum.

For this reason, there is interest in alternative cathode materials that emit electrons at a lower temperature. To this end, the tungsten cathode may be coated with barium oxide which results in thermionic emission at a lower temperature of HOOK. At these temperatures, evaporation of material is negligible and the electrical power and cooling requirements of the tube are thereby reduced.

However, the barium oxide coating is fragile and can be affected by sputtering from positive ions in the strong electric field. Moreover, at the lower temperature used, there is less heat radiation and so it becomes much more difficult to ensure that all regions of

the cathode are at the same temperature. Unequal temperatures in turn can result in uneven X-ray emission which leads to an ill-defined X-ray spot. Further, unequal bonding of the coating to the tungsten wire also results in uneven X-ray emission from the anode. For this reason, as far as the inventors are aware, barium oxide has not been used in high power X-ray tubes for analytical applications.

There thus remains a need for a X-ray source that can operate at relatively low cathode temperatures and high X-ray power.

According to an aspect of the invention there is provided an X-ray source according to claim 1.

By using a cathode with a spiral wire around the emission loop of wire, and an emitter coating on this composition of wires, the contact (i.e. the bonding strength) of the coating to the wire is much improved.

Thermal loops may be provided between the emission loop and the ends of the wire. The temperature of the wire in use is equilibrated much better than when using a simple arrangement without the thermal loops.

The wire may be supported on support loops that may be thinner than the emission loop of wire to avoid excessive heat transfer.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, purely by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a cathode used in an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 shows a side view of an X-ray source according to an embodiment, incorporating the cathode of Figure 1; Figure 3 shows a detail of the cathode of Figure 1;

Figure 4 illustrates the X-ray spot of a cathode according to Figure 1 and two comparative examples; and

Figure 5 is a graph of X-ray output over time for the cathode of Figure 1 and a comparative example.

Like or similar components are given like reference numerals in different figures, which are schematic and not to scale.

Referring to Figure 1 , a cathode 2 for an X-ray tube is shown. The cathode is formed from a single length of tungsten wire 4 extending between a first end 6 and a second end 8 which are arranged adjacently. The cathode has the form of a circular emission loop 10, with first and second thermal loops 12,14 between the emission loop 10 and respective first and second ends 6,8. Each of the first and second thermal loops 12, 14 is formed of a U-shaped loop of wire, the legs 16 of the U extending in parallel to the emission loop, that is to say following the circle. The term "thermal loop" is used since the function of the loop is to provide some thermal resistance between the emission loop 10 and the ends of the wire 6,8.

Referring to Figure 2, the cathode 2 is arranged with the emission loop 10 surrounding a central anode 20. A wall 22 extends around the anode 20 between the anode 20 and the cathode 2. The wall 22 acts as an obstacle so that there is no direct straight path between cathode and anode. In the example, the anode surface 20 is of Rhodium but alternative materials may be used if required. The ends 6, 8 of the cathode wire are mounted on a support which is not thermally equilibrated with the emission loop 10 in use.

In addition to the thermal loops, additional thin support wires 23 are used to support the emission loop, arranged evenly spaced around the emission loop. These are selected with a length, thickness and location to realise a homogenous temperature distribution. In particular, the support wires 23 may be made thinner than the tungsten wire 4 so that they do not conduct as much heat per unit area. However, the support wires 23 may be made without thermal loops, and so they have a shorter effective length, so that they pass a similar, low, heat flow per unit time as the thermal loops between emission loop and first and second ends 6, 8. Thus, the support wires 23 may have a thermal

resistance within 80% to 120% of the thermal resistance of the thermal loops as a result of this trade off between effective length and thickness.

In this way, a relatively homogenous temperature distribution may be achieved around the full length of the emission loop 10.

The effect of the thermal loops 12, 14 is to thermally decouple the emission loop 10 to the ends 6,8 by increasing the length of wire between the emission loop 10 and the ends 6,8.

The cathode 2 and anode 20 are arranged inside vacuum housing 24 with beryllium window 26 facing the anode 20. The housing 24 is evacuated.

Figure 3 illustrates the fine detail of the tungsten wire 4 of the cathode 2. A second tungsten wire 30 is arranged in a spiral around the first tungsten wire 4. A barium oxide coating 32 is arranged on the composition of wires. In the example, there are small gaps between individual turns of the spiral wire, and the coating 32 extends into these gaps as well as over the surface. This is believed to create a strong bond and good chemical contact between the coating 32 and wires 4, 30.

In the example, the emission loop 10 is a circular loop 38mm in diameter. Each thermal loop 13, 14 is 30mm long. The inner tungsten wire 4 has a diameter of 250 μm and the second spiral wire 30 a diameter of 29 μm. The pitch of the spiral is 35 μm in the example, leading to small gaps of (35-29) = 6 μm. The thickness of the coating is 10 μm. The emission loop was supported by three support wires 23 which in the example had a diameter of 100 μm and a length of 5 mm.

As those skilled in the art will appreciate, these measurements can be varied. Typically, the emission loop 10 will have a maximum linear dimension, i.e. diameter in the case of a circle, from 1 mm to 500mm, in typical embodiments from 5mm to

150mm. The length of wire may be from 15mm to 1500mm, for example. The thermal loop 14,16 may have a length of wire between 2 and 170mm. The inner wire 4 may have a diameter from 50 μm to 900 μm, and the outer spiral wire 30 from 1 μm to 500

μm. The pitch of the outer spiral wire 30 should be at least the diameter of the outer spiral wire up to 10 times the diameter of the outer spiral wire, preferably up to double the diameter of the outer spiral wire, so for a spiral wire of diameter 29 μm as in the example the pitch is preferably 29 μm to 58 μm. The coating thickness may be from 0,5 μm to 50 % of the diameter inner wire. The outer spiral wire may be tightly bound to the inner wire, or may be spaced from it, for example from 0 to 20% of the diameter of the inner wire. The support wire may be, for example, from 20 to 500 μm diameter and any suitable length, for example from 2mm to 30mm. The support wire may in particular have a diameter 20% to 80%, or 20% to 50% of that of the inner wire.

The length of each leg of the thermal loops may be 10% to 40% of the length of the emission loop. The emission loop may extend around the anode in the form of a circle, extending at least 300° around the circumference of the circle.

In use, a high voltage is applied between anode 20 and cathode 2. The voltage may be, for example, from 20 to 60keV; other voltages may be used if required. Preferably, this is done by applying a small positive voltage to the cathode and a large positive voltage to the anode, as set out in EP 608 015. Electrons 27 are thermally emitted by the cathode 2, and hit the anode 20 where they cause X-rays 28 to be emitted. The emitted X-rays pass out through window 26.

The inventors have discovered that the combination of the thermal loops, spiral wire and coating produces highly desirable results.

The use of BaO allows thermionic emission at a lower temperature than prior art tungsten cathodes. The way in which the BaO is formed on the second tungsten wire spiral increases the stability of the BaO. Note that in the example tested the coating is a mixture of 50% BaO and 50% SrO; the BaO is responsible for the low temperature emission and for this reason the coating is referred to as a BaO coating.

The inventors have tested the cathode according to the invention, an alternative BaO cathode in which a BaO coating is applied directly to the tungsten wire, and a tungsten cathode without a BaO coating. The X-ray spot has been imaged. Figure 4 illustrates

these three cases - the left image is from a tungsten cathode, the middle image from the alternative BaO cathode and the right image from the invention.

It will be seen that the cathode according to the invention delivers a very even X-ray spot, because of the even temperature distribution and good bonding between the coating and the coiled wire. In contrast, a conventional X-ray cathode with a BaO coating produces an uneven spot with part of the spot missing which would give poorer results.

Further, the lifetime of the cathode according to the invention is considerably longer than a conventional tungsten cathode. The absence of tungsten evaporation results in a stable X-ray output over time. Figure 5 illustrates the X-ray output of a tube according to the invention (top line) and the existing tube with a tungsten cathode.

Although the description of the embodiment of the invention describes the use of tungsten for both the inner wire 4 and the spiral wire 30, alternative materials may also be used, including platinum, rhenium, nickel, molybdenum, iridium, platinum, tantalum, palladium, niobium, osmium or hafnium and other refractory materials. The material used may also be combinations and/or alloys of such metals.

Also, barium oxide is not the only low temperature X-ray emitter, but yttrium oxide, lanthanum hexaborate (LaB ₆ ), ThB ₄ , doped tungsten, doped barium oxide and mixtures, carbon nanotubes and other materials with work functions below 4eV may also be used. Such materials may be represented by formulae such as LaB _x , i.e. a non- stochiometric formula. The emitter coating may also include fillers such as calcium oxide, strontium oxide, aluminium oxide or silicon oxide.

As well as a circle, the emission loop can have other forms, such as line, rectangular or oval, or a "hairpin" shape, a long "U" shape.

The specific arrangement with a ring, a cathode and anode is also optional and the anode can also, for example, be arranged facing the cathode or indeed in other configurations.

By "X-ray source" any source of X-rays is intended, whether or not it includes a sealed tube.