A CCD Based X-ray Imaging System For Industrial Applications

The presented x-ray imaging system is based on a typical industrial grade charge-coupled device (CCD) which is coupled to a phosphor screen and operated at room-temperature. Image acquisition and data analysis is performed using a commercial 8-bit frame grabber and a personal computer. The setup, noise reduction, and the response of fluorescent converters were evaluated with an x-ray tube. Measurements indicate that the system can achieve a spatial resolution of 16 line pairs per mm and a contrast of sensing a piece of 0.1 mm thick plastic sheet. Demonstrations have shown that the system can detect the fluid level in opaque plastic bottles, flaws in mechanical parts, wiring diagram in electrical parts, and to the extreme, 30 pm gold wires in plastic capped integrated circuit chips.