CEO-Americas and Chief Scientist Brian Gonzales presented on Micro-X’s carbon nanotube technology to the International Organization of Medical Physics on 25th April 2023.
Micro-X has successfully developed the world’s first carbon nanotube (CNT) based x-ray tube for medical applications. This unique technology achieves both the high x-ray current, and the stable x-ray output required for safe and effective medical imaging. The performance of Micro-X CNT tubes is achieved through two patented design features of the CNT emitter that differentiate the emitter for other field-emission emitters. In this presentation, Micro-X will present an overview of the emitter design and share emitter data demonstrating the high current and stable performance.
CNT x-rays are smaller and simpler compared to conventional x-ray tubes. CNT x-ray tubes are controlled by direct electronic voltage instead of the indirect thermionic control of conventional x-ray. These differences enable new imaging systems to be developed. In this presentation, Brian overviews the four different products Micro-X has designed taking advantage of the advantages of the CNT x-ray. This includes a lightweight mobile digital x-ray imaging system to bring x-ray directly to a patient bedside, an x-ray camera that creates two-dimensional x-ray backscatter images with the x-ray source and detector on a single side, a compact lightweight CT for early diagnosis of stroke, and a reimaged airport checkpoint based around a miniaturized CT baggage scanner.
(Top image: A Micro-X carbon nanotube emitter viewed through a scanning electron microscope at 20,000x magnification)