Production of x-rays

Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
 Types of high-energy photons
(X, γ, and annihilation radiation)

• Radiation of an unknown type and origin was

discovered in the year 1895 by Wilhelm
Rontgen. They were dubbed x-rays by their
discoverer, while in his honor, some referred to
them as Rontgen rays.
• They were soon found to be a form of
electromagnetic radiation with extremely
short wavelengths (very high energy).
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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• X, γ, and annihilation radiation are called
ionizing because their interactions with matter
can eject electrons from an atom, creating a
positively charged ion.
• X-rays are a highly energetic form of
electromagnetic radiation generated by
accelerated or decelerated electrons or atomic
energy (i.e., electronic) transitions. They have
extremely short wavelengths.

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• γ-rays are an energetic form of electromagnetic
radiation produced by nuclear energy (neutron
or proton) transitions, typically by radioactive
decay.
• Annihilation radiation is electromagnetic
radiation produced when a positron (β+) and
electron (β−) combine. The original positron
and electron disappear and are replaced by two
oppositely directed 0.511 MeV annihilation
photons.
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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• It is important to note that there is no physical
difference between γ-rays, x-rays and annihilation
radiation of the same energy—they are three names
for the same electromagnetic radiation.
• Annihilation radiation, γ-rays, and x-rays are
distinguished by their origin. Because it is possible for
some electron transitions to be of higher energy than
some nuclear transitions, there is an overlap between
what we call low-energy γ-rays and high-energy x-rays.
• Unfortunately, the error is often made that all γ-rays are
higher in energy than x-rays, but this is not true; they
only differ by definition.
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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
 Production of x-rays

• X-rays are produced when fast moving

electrons are stopped by means of a target
material.
• The moving electrons possess kinetic energy.
When the electron is suddenly stopped, its
kinetic energy is converted into heat and X-
rays. This conversion is taking place in the
target material.
• Therefore, the interaction of electron with the
target is the basis for X-ray production.
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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
The X-ray tube:

• X-rays are produced when fast-moving

electrons are suddenly stopped by impact on a
metal target.
• The kinetic energy of the electrons is converted
into X-rays (no more than 1%) and into heat
(99%).

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• An X-ray tube consists of two electrodes
sealed into an evacuated glass envelope:

1. A negative electrode (cathode) that

incorporates a fine tungsten coil or filament.
2. A positive electrode (anode) that incorporates a
smooth flat metal target, usually of tungsten.

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
Kilovoltage and milliamperage:

• Two sources of electrical energy are required:

1. The filament heating voltage (about 10 V) and
current (about 10 A)
2. The accelerating voltage (typically 30 – 150
kV) between the anode and cathode (referred to
as tube potential, high voltage, kilovoltage or
kV); this drives the current of electrons
(typically 0.5 – 1000 mA) flowing between the
anode and cathode (referred to as tube current,
milliamperage or mA).
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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• The mA is controlled by adjusting the filament
voltage and current and thus filament
temperature.
• A small increase in temperature produces a
large increase in tube current.

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
 An X-ray tube and its power supplies.
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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
Processes occurring in the target of an X-ray
tube:

• Each electron arrives at the surface of the

target with a kinetic energy (expressed in units
of kiloelectronvolts, keV) equivalent to the kV
between the anode and cathode at that instant.

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• The electrons penetrate several micrometers
into the target and lose their energy by a
combination of processes:

1. As a large number of very small energy losses,

by interaction with the outer electrons of the
atoms, constituting unwanted heat and causing
a rise in temperature.
2. As large-energy losses producing X-rays, by
interaction with either the inner shells of the
atoms or the field of the nucleus.
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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
Anode Heat:

• Most of the kinetic energy of electrons is

converted into heat.
• The electrons interact with the outer shell
electrons of the target atoms but do not
transfer sufficient energy to these outer-shell
electrons to ionize them.
• Rather, the outer-shell electrons are simply
raised to an excited, or higher, energy level.
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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
Most of the kinetic energy of projectile electrons is
converted to heat by interactions with outer-shell electrons
of target atoms. These interactions are primarily excitations
rather than ionizations. 15
Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• The outer-shell electrons immediately drop
back to their normal energy level with the
emission of infrared radiation.
• The constant excitation and return of outer
shell electrons are responsible for most of the
heat generated in the anodes of x-ray tubes.
• Only approximately 1% of electron kinetic
energy is used for the production of x-
radiation.

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• The production of heat in the anode increases
directly with increasing x-ray tube current.
• Doubling the x-ray tube current doubles the heat
produced.
• Heat production also increases directly with
increasing kVp, at least in the diagnostic range.

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• The efficiency of x-ray production is
independent of the tube current. Consequently,
regardless of what mA is selected, the efficiency
of x-ray production remains constant.
• The efficiency of x-ray production increases
with increasing kVp.
• At 60 kVp, only 0.5% of the electron kinetic
energy is converted to x-rays.
• At 100 kVp, approximately 1% is converted to
x-rays, and at 20 MV, 70% is converted.
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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
Characteristic Radiation:

• If the electron interacts with an inner-shell

electron of the target atom rather than with an
outer-shell electron, characteristic x-rays can be
produced.
• Characteristic x-rays result when the
interaction is sufficiently violent to ionize the
target atom through total removal of an inner-
shell electron.
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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• When the cathode electron ionizes a target
atom by removing a K-shell electron, a
temporary electron void is produced in the K
shell.
• This is an unnatural state for the target atom,
and it is corrected when an outer-shell electron
falls into the void in the K shell.

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• The transition of an orbital electron from an
outer shell to an inner shell is accompanied by
the emission of an x-ray.
• The x-ray has energy equal to the difference
in the binding energies of the orbital
electrons involved.

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
Characteristic x-rays are produced after ionization of a K-
shell electron. When an outer shell electron fills the vacancy
in the K shell, an x-ray is emitted.

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
 Generation of a characteristic x-ray in a target atom. 23
Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
 Characteristic x-rays production.

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• By the same procedure, the energy of x-rays
resulting from M-to-K, N-to-K, O-to-K, and P-
to-K transitions can be calculated.
• Tungsten, for example, has electrons in shells
out to the P shell, and when a K-shell electron is
ionized; its position can be filled with electrons
from any of the outer shells.
• All of these x-rays are called K x -rays because
they result from electron transitions into the K
shell.
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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• Similar characteristic x-rays are produced
when the target atom is ionized by removal of
electrons from shells other than the K shell.

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
 Atomic configuration and electron binding energies for
tungsten. 27
Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
Question:
• A K-shell electron is removed from a tungsten atom
and is replaced by an L-shell electron. What is the
energy of the characteristic x-ray that is emitted?

Answer:
• For tungsten, K-shell electrons have binding energies
of 69 keV, and L-shell electrons are bound by 12 keV.

• Therefore the characteristic x-ray emitted has energy

of 69 − 12 = 57 keV.

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• When removing an L-shell electron by the
projectile electron, the vacancy in the L shell
would be filled by an electron from any of the
outer shells.
• X-rays resulting from electron transitions to
the L shell are called L x -rays and have much
less energy than K x-rays because the binding
energy of an L-shell electron is much lower
than that of a K-shell electron.

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• Similarly, M-characteristic x-rays, N-
characteristic x-rays, and even O-
characteristic x-rays can be produced in a
tungsten target.
• Although many characteristic x-rays can be
produced, these can be produced only at
specific energies, equal to the differences in
electron-binding energies for the various
electron transitions.

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• Except for K x-rays, all of the characteristic x-
rays have very low energy.
• The L x-rays, with approximately 12 keV of
energy, penetrate only a few centimeters into
soft tissue. Consequently, they are useless as
diagnostic x-rays, as are all the other low-
energy characteristic x-rays.

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
Characteristic X-rays of Tungsten and Their Effective
Energies (keV).

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• Because the electron binding energy for every
element is different, the energy of
characteristic x-rays produced in the various
elements is also different.
• The effective energy of characteristic x-rays
increases with increasing atomic number of
the target element.

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
Bremsstrahlung Radiation:

• The production of heat and characteristic x-

rays involves interactions between the
projectile electrons and the electrons of x-ray
tube target atoms.
• A third type of interaction in which the
projectile electron can lose its kinetic energy
is an interaction with the nuclear field of a
target atom.
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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• In this type of interaction the kinetic energy of
the projectile electron is also converted into
electromagnetic energy.
• A projectile electron that completely avoids
the orbital electrons as it passes through a
target atom may come sufficiently close to the
nucleus of the atom to come under the
influence of its electric field.

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
Bremsstrahlung x-rays result from the interaction between
a projectile electron and a target nucleus. The electron is
slowed, and its direction is changed. 36
Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• Because the electron is negatively charged and
the nucleus is positively charged, there is an
electrostatic force of attraction between them.
• The closer the projectile electron gets to the
nucleus, the more it is influenced by the
electric field of the nucleus.
• This field is very strong because the nucleus
contains many protons and the distance between
the nucleus and projectile electron is very
small.
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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• As the projectile electron passes by the
nucleus, it is slowed down and changes its
course, leaving with reduced kinetic energy in
a different direction. This loss of kinetic
energy reappears as an x-ray.
• These types of x-rays are called
bremsstrahlung x-rays.
• Bremsstrahlung is a German word that means
“slowed-down radiation.”

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• Bremsstrahlung x-rays can be considered
radiation that results from the braking of
cathode electrons by the nucleus.
• A cathode electron can lose any amount of its
kinetic energy in an interaction with the
nucleus of a target atom, and the
bremsstrahlung x-ray associated with the loss
can take on corresponding values.

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• For example, when an x-ray imaging system is
operated at 70 kVp, electrons from the cathode
have kinetic energies from zero to 70 keV.
• An electron with kinetic energy of 70 keV can
lose all, none, or any intermediate level of that
kinetic energy in a bremsstrahlung
interaction. Therefore the bremsstrahlung x-
ray produced can have any energy up to 70
keV. This is different from the production of
characteristic x-rays, which have very specific
energies.
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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• A low-energy bremsstrahlung x-ray results
when the electron is barely influenced by the
nucleus.
• A maximum energy x-ray occurs when the
electron loses all its kinetic energy and simply
drifts away from the nucleus.
• Bremsstrahlung x-rays with energies between
these two extremes occur more frequently.

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
• Bremsstrahlung x-rays can be produced at any
cathode electron energy.
• K-characteristic x-rays require an x-ray tube
potential of at least 69 kVp.
• At 65 kVp, for example, no useful
characteristic x-rays are produced; therefore,
the x-ray beam is all bremsstrahlung.
• At 100 kVp, approximately 15% of the x-ray
beam is characteristic, and the remaining is
bremsstrahlung.
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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah
 End of this Lecture

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Dr. Ahmed Alsharef Farah