Stationary digital breast tomosynthesis system with a multi-beam field emission x-ray source array

A stationary digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) system using a carbon nanotube based multi-beam field emission x-ray (MBFEX) source has been designed. The purpose is to investigate the feasibility of reducing the total imaging time, simplifying the system design, and potentially improving the image quality comparing to the conventional DBT scanners. The MBFEX source consists of 25 individually programmable x-ray pixels which are evenly angular spaced covering a 48° field of view. The device acquires the projection images by electronically switching on and off the individual x-ray pixels without mechanical motion of either the x-ray source or the detector. The designs of the x-ray source and the imaging system are presented. Some preliminary results are discussed.