X-rays
X-rays represent a form of electromagnetic radiation. They are produced by the x-ray tube, using
the high voltage to accelerate the electrons produced by the cathode. The produced electrons
interact with the anode, thus producing x-rays. The x-rays produced include Bremsstrahlung and
the characteristic radiation for the anode element.
X-rays can interact with matter by the following:
photoelectric effect
Compton effect
Rayleigh or classical scattering
pair production (not possible in the diagnostic radiology range)
ionization
Production of X-rays
X-rays are produced due to sudden deceleration of fast moving electrons when they collide and
interact with the target anode. In this process of deceleration, more than 99% of the electron energy
is converted into heat and less than 1% of energy is converted into X-rays.
Definitions
Cathode
The cathode is the negative terminal of the X-ray tube. It is tungsten filament and when current is
flown through it, the filament gets heated and start emitting its surface electrons by the process
called thermionic emission.
Kilovoltage
High voltage is applied between cathode and anode. The high voltage of kilovolt range (1000 volts)
causes electrons to move towards the positive terminal of the tube at a velocity of half the velocity
of light.
Anode
It is the positive terminal of the tube. It is made of tungsten disc in ordinary diagnostic X-ray tube
and molybdenum in mammography X-ray tube. Fast-moving electrons interact with the anode in
following ways:
interaction with K-shell electron: causes the production of characteristic radiation
interaction with nucleus: causes bremsstrahlung radiation
interaction with outer shell electrons: causes line spectrum
Cathode
The cathode is part on an x-ray tube and serves to expel the electrons from the circuit and focus
them in a beam on the focal spot of the anode. It is a controlled source of electrons for the
generation of X-ray beams. The electrons are produced by heating the filament, i.e., a coil of wire
made from tungsten, placed within a cup-shaped structure, a highly polished nickel focusing cup,
providing electrostatic focusing of the beam on the anode. In order to expel the electrons from the
system, they need to be given the energy. Heat is used to expel the electrons from the cathode. The
filament is crystallized during construction and its crystallized structure gives the filament
stability. The process is called thermionic emission. The filament is heated with the electric current
passing through it, to the glowing temperature and the electrons are, then expelled from the
cathode.
1. Thermionic emission
Thermionic emission is the emission of electrons from a heated metal (cathode). This principle
was first used in the Coolidge's tube and then later in the modern day X-ray tubes. Before the
discovery of the principle, gas tubes were used for X-ray production.
The cathode has its filament circuit that supplies it with necessary filament current to heat it up.
As the temperature increases, the surface electrons gain energy. The energy acquired by the
surface electrons allows them to move a short distance off the surface thus resulting in emission.
A pure tungsten filament must be heated to a temperature of 2200 degrees to emit useful number
of electrons.
The electrons emitted from the surface are limited by the space charge effect.
2. Filament circuit
The tungsten cathode needs to be heated for thermionic emission to take place. Thus a 10 V
potential difference and a 3-6 amperes of filament current is supplied, which forms the filament
circuit.
This should not be confused with tube current which determines the flow of electrons from cathode
to anode.
3. Space charge and space charge effect
Space charge refers to the collection of electrons which are emitted from the metal surface, after
the application of tube current, at a short distance away from the metal surface.
These electrons collect and form a cloud of charge around the metal surface. This space charge
limits the further emission of electrons from the surface and is referred to as space charge effect.
Anode
The anode represents the component of the x-ray tube where x-rays is produced. It is a piece of
metal, shaped in the form of a bevelled disk with the diameter between 55 and 100mm, 7mm thick,
connected to the positive side of the electrical circuit. The anode converts the energy of the
electrons into X-rays and dissipates the heat, considered the byproduct.
Most X-ray tubes are built of tungsten (Z=74). Tungsten has the high atomic number Z and has a
high melting point of 3370C with the low rate of evaporation. Alloy containing tungsten and
rhenium is also used, since 5-10% of rhenium prevents crazing of the anode surface. The body of
the anode is made of the materials that are light and have a good heat storage capacity, like
molybdenum and graphite. Molybdenum is also often used as the surface material for the anodes
used in mammography, for its characteristics: intermediate atomic number with the produced X-
rays of the energies suited for this purpose. Some of the anodes used for mammography are also
made of rhodium (Z=45), producing more penetrating radiation, preferably for use in dense breast
imaging.
Anodes are designed as beveled disks attached to the large copper rotor of the electric motor,
rotating them at the speeds up to 10,000 RPM, with the temperature of 2000C. The purpose of
the rotation is to dissipate the heat. Most rotating anodes actually represent rather complex
electromechanical systems consisting of approximately 350 pieces, taking around 150 assembly
operations.
The anode disc rotates and is subjected to a focused beam of electrons emanated from the cathode,
which are then accelerated by the high potential difference between the cathode and the target disc.
When the electron beam hit the target, i.e. the focal spot, it then produces the X-ray beam. The
anode angle is measured from vertical to the angle of the anode and is about 15. A smaller angle
would make a smaller focal spot.
The whole anode is not included in the X-ray production. The X-rays are produced on the rather
small rectangular surface the focal spot. Some X-rays have two focal spots, chosen according to
the imaging procedure.
1. Focal spot
Focal spot is the area of the anode surface which receives the beam of electrons from the cathode.
Basic concept
Size and shape of the focal spot is determined by the size and shape of the electron beam when it
strikes the anode 1. Size and shape of the electron beam is determined by:
dimensions of the filament tungsten coil
construction of the focusing cup
position of the filament in the focusing cup
The focal spot sizes commonly employed are:
0.3mm and 0.6mm, usually for mammography
1.0mm and 1.2mm, usually for general radiography
The effective focal length of a focal spot can be calculated using:
Effective focal length = Actual focal length x sin
2. Anode heel effect
Anode heel effect refers to the intensity of the x-ray beam, produced from the X-ray tube, which
is not uniform in all portions of the beam.
Basic concept
In general, the beam consists of a central ray and a diverging beam. The rays towards the cathode
end of the tube have more intensity. This is because, in a diverging beam, the rays which are
parallel or near parallel to the inclined/angulated anode get absorbed by the anode itself.
Applications
1. intensity of beam on the anode side is less than cathode side: therefore place the thicker part of
the body on the cathode side, e.g. upper thoracic on the anode side and lower thoracic or upper
abdomen should be placed on the cathode side.
2. target-to-film distance: increase in distance reduces heel effect.
3. size of film (keeping target-to-film distance as constant ): the smaller film has lesser heel effect
as the divergent beam does not reach the film and intensity of the beam is more uniform at centre
than at the periphery.
Line focus principle
Line focus principle explains the relationship between the anode surface and the effective focal
spot size.
Basic concept
The focal spot is the area of the target upon which the electron beam impinges. The energy of the
electrons in the electron beam is mostly converted into heat (approximately 99 percent which is
why materials such as Tungsten are used due to their high melting-points) and dissipated uniformly
across the focal spot and anode surface. The X-rays produced at the anode comprise of less than
one percent of the energy of the electrons in the electron beam.
A large focal spot is therefore useful to protect the tungsten target as the heat accumulates and
dissipates within the area of focal spot. However, a small focal spot is required to achieve a good
radiographic image quality.
Thus the line focus principle helps resolve this issue by stating that an angulation of the anode
surface will result in an apparent decrease in the focal spot size
The apparent focal spot (projected focal spot) size can be determined by sine of the angle of the
anode surface (apparent focal spot size = real focal spot size * sin anode angle). The angle varies
as per tube design with a range value of 6 degrees to about 20 degrees.
Limitation of the principle
There are two important aspects to consider with regards to target angle:
size of the apparent focal spot
area covered by the x-ray beam
Firstly, for a given apparent focal spot size, the real area covered by the electron beam is larger for
smaller target angles which, as stated above allows a greater area over which to dissipate the heat.
Secondly, for a smaller target angle, the area covered by the X-ray beam will be smaller so it is
not possible to cover large areas at smaller FFDs, therefore it can be appreciated that choice of
target angle is a compromise between tube loading, geometric unsharpness and desired area to be
covered by the useful beam. For practical purpose, at 40" FFD the anode angle should be
no smaller than 15 degrees. A decrease in angle below six degrees will result in anode heel effect.
X-Ray Spectrum
1. Bremsstrahlung
X-rays are produced by high-energy electrons bombarding a target, especially targets that have a
high proton number (Z). When bombarding electrons penetrate into the target, some electrons
travel close to the nucleus due to the attraction of its positive charge and are subsequently
influenced by its electric field. The course of these electrons would be deflected, and a portion or
all of their kinetic energy would be lost. The principle of the conservation of energy states that in
producing the X-ray photon, the electron has lost some of its kinetic energy (KE):
final KE of electron = initial KE of electron - energy of X-ray photon
The 'lost' energy is emitted as X-ray photons, specifically bremsstrahlung radiation
(bremsstrahlung is German for 'braking radiation'). Bremsstrahlung can have any energy ranging
from zero to the maximum KE of the bombarding electrons (i.e., 0 to Emax), depending on how
much the electrons are influenced by the electric field, therefore forming a continuous spectrum.
The 'peak' of the spectrum typically occurs at approximately one-third of Emax so for a
bremsstrahlung spectra with an Emax value of say 120 keV, the peak of the spectrum would be at
approximately 40 keV.
The intensity of bremsstrahlung radiation is proportional to the square of the atomic number of the
target (Z), the number of unit charges of the bombarding particle (z) and inversely with the mass
of the bombarding particle (m): Z z / m. It follows that light particles such as electrons and
positrons bombarding targets of high atomic number are more efficient producers of
bremsstrahlung radiation than heavier particles such as alpha particles or neutrons (which can also
cause X-rays to be produced through bremsstrahlung, though it's much more unlikely than with
electrons).
2. Characteristic radiation
When a fast-moving electron collides with a K-shell electron, the electron in the K-shell is ejected
(provided the energy of the incident electron is greater than the binding energy of K-shell electron)
leaving behind a 'hole'. An outer shell electron fills this hole (from the L-shell, M-shell, etc. ) with
an emission of a single X-ray photon, called characteristic radiation, with an energy level
equivalent to the energy level difference between the outer and inner shell electron involved in the
transition.
As opposed to the continuous spectrum of bremsstrahlung radiation, characteristic radiation is
represented by a line spectrum. As each element has a specific arrangement of electrons at discrete
energy level, then it can be appreciated that the radiation produced from such interactions is
'characteristic' of the element involved.
For example, in a tungsten target electron transitions from the L-shell to the K-shell produce X-
rays photons of 57.98 and 59.32 keV. The two energy levels are as a result of the Pauli exclusion
principle which states that no two particles of half-integer spin (such as electrons) in an atom can
occupy exactly the same energy state at the same time; therefore the K-shell represents two
different energy states, the L-shell eight states and so on.
When an electron falls (cascades) from the L-shell to the K-shell, the X-ray emitted is called a K-
alpha X-ray. Similarly, when an electron falls from the M-shell to the K-shell, the X-ray emitted
is called a K-beta X-ray 1. However, it is possible to have M-L transitions and so on but their
likelihood is so low they can be safely ignored.
Each element differs in nuclear binding energies, and characteristic radiation depends on the
binding energy of particular element.
In mammography X-ray tubes which typically use a molybdenum target, more than 80% of
radiation is characteristic radiation. However, characteristic radiation never exists in isolation and
the line spectra is usually superimposed on the continuous spectra of bremsstrahlung radiation.
Kilovoltage peak
Kilovoltage peak (kVp) is the peak voltage applied to the X-ray tube. It determines the highest
energy of X-ray photon. It is responsible for the acceleration of electrons from the cathode to the
anode. It also determines tube current in space charge region.
Increase in kVp shifts the X-ray spectrum to right. The radiation dose to the patient is directly
proportional to the square of kV. However, it must be remembered that in practical purposes where
a different kVp is used in different cases (say for e.g. low kV in mammography as compared to
chest X-ray), other factors like mA and film focus distance (FFD) play a role and a complex
relation exist to the patient dose (patient dose in mammography is much more than a chest X-ray).
Increasing the kVp will decrease the contrast seen between soft tissue and bone 2.
X-ray tube
An X-ray tube functions as a specific energy converter, receiving the electrical energy and
converting it into two other forms of energy: x-radiation and heat. Heat is considered the
undesirable product of this conversion process; therefore X-radiation is created by taking the
energy from the electrons and converting it into photons. This very specific energy conversion
takes place in the X-ray tube.
Construction of the X-ray tube
The X-ray tube contains two principal elements:
1. cathode: provides a source of electrons
2. anode: acts as the target for electrons and releases x-rays
Additional components include:
expansion bellows (provide space for oil to expand)
tube envelope (evacuated)
tube housing
cooling dielectric oil
rotor
induction stator
tube window
Cathode and anode are contained in the envelope, which provides vacuum, support and electrical
insulation. The envelope is most often created from glass, although some tubes contain envelopes
made of ceramic or even metal.
The energy used for this process is provided from the generator, connected by an electrical circuit
connected to the system. The generator also needs to convert the electrical energy from the power
system into the direct current (DC), being the adequate form to be applied to the X-ray tube.
The quality and the quantity of the X-radiation are controlled by adjusting the electrical parameters
(kV voltage or the potential applied to the tube, mA current that flows through the tube) and
exposure time, usually a fraction of a second.
To summarise, X-rays are produced in a standard way: by accelerating electrons with a high
voltage and allowing them to collide with the focal spot. X-rays are produced when the electrons
are suddenly decelerated upon collision with the metal target. These X-rays are called the braking
radiation (Bremsstrahlung). If the electrons have high energy, they can expel an electron out of
the atomic shell of the bombarded atom. Electrons from higher state fill the place of the expelled
electron, emitting the X-ray photons with precise energies, determined by electron energy levels.
The X-rays produced in that way are called the Characteristic X-rays.
Filters
Filters are metallic sheets that are designed to mainly absorb the low-energy x-ray photons from
the spectrum. If unfiltered these low-energy x-ray photons are absorbed in the patient, thus not
contributing to image formation and just increase dose. Therefore using a filter reduces the patient
dose. The process is called filtration and is of two types:
inherent filtration, i.e. tube and housing (equivalent to 0.5-1.0 mm Al)
added filtration ("hardening"), e.g. aluminium and copper
Total filtration is the combined effect of inherent and added filtration, with US guidelines stating
a minimum total filtration of 2.5 mm of aluminium is required for x-ray tubes operating above 70
kVp 3.
Beam collimators
Beam collimators are 'beam direction' devices used in the X-ray tube housing, along with an
arrangement of mirrors and lights, in such a way that the light and X-ray fields match each other.
They are made of lead shutters which completely absorb the photons, and thus reduce the patient
dose as well as focus the radiation accordingly to the area of interest. They allow different
projections of X-ray fields.
In linear accelerators (linac), the primary collimator may be constructed of depleted uranium (DU)
as this material is approximately 1.6 times more dense than lead. The secondary motorised
collimators which greater define the beam shape are constructed of lead or tungsten. Multi-leaf
collimators (MLCs) which are now in widespread use in medical linacs consist of two collimator
banks of thin tungsten 'leaves' with each bank consisting of 40 to 80 leaves (so a total of 80 to 160
leaves). This allows each collimator leaf to move independently under computer control. MLCs
allow even more diverse field shapes to be created which can shield organs at risk whilst allowing
the complex shape of the tumour bed to be irradiated to allow maximum cell kill.
