A chopper wheel assembly includes a collimator configured to narrow an x-ray beam, a chopper wheel has a planar surface configured to face in a direction of the collimator and a housing configured to receive the chopper wheel. The chopper wheel includes a central axis, a plurality of slits in the planar surface, a first projection extending from the planar surface in a direction of the collimator and a second projection extending from the planar surface in the direction of the collimator. The slits extend in radially-outward direction relative to the central axis. The first projection is located radially outward of the plurality of slits and the second projection is located radially inward of the plurality of slits. Each projection is provided for 360 degrees about the central axis. The housing includes an interior wall including a first groove configured to receive the first projection and a second groove configured to receive the second projection with the chopper wheel received within the housing.

A radiation scanning system includes a source to output penetrating radiation, a collimator to form a collimated, irradiating fan beam in a plane, and a disk chopper wheel defining one or more apertures that pass at least a portion of the radiation for scanning a target object. The system further includes a translation mechanism that can effect a variable, relative displacement between the disk chopper wheel and the fan beam plane, enabling the fan beam position to be continuously variable. The system may also include field of view (FOV)-limiting plates with radial edges that adjust or steer the FOV for additional flexibility. Accordingly, the FOV may be fixedly set or dynamically adjusted from scan to scan. Scatter plates and a tilted disk chopper wheel may be included to dramatically reduce system weight.

A chopper wheel assembly includes a collimator configured to narrow an x-ray beam generated by a source of x-ray energy, a chopper wheel has a planar surface configured to face in a direction of the collimator and a housing including a hollow interior region configured to receive the chopper wheel. The chopper wheel includes a central axis, a plurality of slits in the planar surface, a first projection extending from the planar surface in a direction of the collimator and a second projection extending from the planar surface in the direction of the collimator. The slits extend in radially-outward direction relative to the central axis. The first projection is located radially outward of the plurality of slits and the second projection is located radially inward of the plurality of slits.

An X-ray analyzing system for x-ray scattering analysis having an x-ray source for generating a beam of x-rays propagating along a transmission axis (3), at least one hybrid slit (5b) with an aperture which defines the shape of the cross section of the beam, a sample on which the beam shaped by the hybrid slit (5b) is directed and an X-ray detector for detecting x-rays originating from the sample. The hybrid slit (5b) has at least three hybrid slit elements (7), each hybrid slit element (7) having a single crystal substrate (8) bonded to a base (9) with a taper angle 0. The single crystal substrates (8) of the hybrid slit elements (7) limit the aperture and the hybrid slit elements (7) are staggered with an offset along the transmission axis (3). The X-ray analyzing system has improved resolution and signal to noise ratio.

Masks that selectively attenuate radiation for inspections of printed circuit boards (PCB) are disclosed. A PCB may be inspected for defects by exposing the PCB with radiation and analyzing the radiation transmitted through the PCB. By employing a radiation mask having first and second segments between the PCB and a radiation source, the radiation may be selectively attenuated to attenuate a first portion of the radiation with a first attenuation level to prevent performance degradation to sensitive semiconductor devices as part of a first sectional area of the PCB, and yet provide substantially non-attenuation or attenuation at a second attenuation level for a second portion of the radiation incident upon a second sectional area of the PCB which is free from sensitive semiconductor devices. In this manner, the selective attenuation enables inspection of the first and second sectional areas of the PCB without damage to the sensitive semiconductor devices.

Provided is an optical axis adjustment device for an X-ray analyzer comprising an incident-side arm, a receiving-side arm, an X-ray source, an incident-side slit, and an X-ray detector, wherein the device comprises a shielding strip disposed at a position blocking X-rays received by the X-ray detector from the X-ray source, and a shielding strip-moving device that rotates the shielding strip around the sample axis relative to the optical axis of X-rays reaching the X-ray detector from the X-ray source to two angle positions, and the amount of deviation in parallelism of the surface of a sample with respect to the optical axis of the X-rays is found on the basis of X-ray intensity values found by the X-ray detector for the two angle positions.

A scanning illuminating device includes an emission center from which radiation is emitted in an illuminating sector. A cylindrical ring is centered on the source and is rotatably movable about a first axis. The ring includes a plurality of slits regularly distributed about its axis of rotation and having the same angular amplitude . A cylinder portion is centered on the source and is rotatably movable about a second axis crossing the first axis at the center and forming a nonzero angle therewith. The cylinder portion includes a slit having an angular amplitude . A first device control of the rotation of the ring, defining an elementary angular step as such that an integer N1 other than 1 meets the condition =N1.Math.. A second device controls the rotation of the ring portion defining an angular step such that an integer N2 other than 1 meets the condition =N2.Math..

An inspection portal includes a first x-ray source configured to emit a first beam, a first backscatter detector configured to detect backscatter from the first beam, a second x-ray source configured to emit a second beam, a second backscatter detector configured to detect backscatter from the second beam, and at least one first collimator and at least one second collimator, each oriented to detect backscatter from the associated beam and to block scatter from the other beam. The first and second backscatter detectors are configured to weight signals acquired using each of their detector element based on the first and second beams. The first backscatter detector is configured to use signal processing techniques to mitigate crosstalk due to scatter from the second beam, and the second backscatter detector is configured to use the signal processing techniques to mitigate crosstalk due to scatter from the first beam.