Method and apparatus for applying material to a surface of an anode of an x-ray source, anode and x-ray source

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for locally applying material to the surface of an anode of an X-ray source as well as a corresponding anode is presented. Anode material such as a repair material for filling a recess (121) in an X-ray emitting surface (115) is applied to the X-ray emitting surface of an anode (101). The location where such material is to be applied may be detected using a laser beam (133). The applied repair material including particles (41) of anode material such as tungsten, rhenium or molybdenum, is subsequently locally sintered using a high-energy laser beam (151). The sintered material may then be melted using a high-energy electron beam (163). Using such method, a damaged surface of an anode may be locally repaired. Alternatively, structures of different anode materials or of protrusions having different levels can be provided on the X-ray emitting surface (115) in order to selectively manipulate the X-ray emitting characteristics of the anode (101).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.