Method for producing a collimator

1. A method for producing a collimator comprising an X-ray transparent substrate, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

forming a first slit to a desired depth in said substrate, said first slit having first and second side walls;

filling said first slit with an X-ray absorbing material, said absorbing material extending from said first side wall to said second side wall of said first slit;

removing part of said X-ray absorbing material thereby forming a second slit extending from the remaining absorbing material to said second side wall;

filling the second slit with X-ray transparent material;

removing part of said X-ray transparent material thereby forming a third slit extending from the remaining transparent material to said second side wall; and

filling said third slit with X-ray absorbing material.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said step of removing part of said X-ray absorbing material comprises the sub-steps of:

removing in depth a part of the X-ray absorbing material by means of a cutting tool,

moving the cutting tool laterally, and

removing in depth another part of the X-ray absorbing material by means of the cutting tool.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein said sub-steps are repeated until said desired slit depth is obtained.

4. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein in said sub-step of moving the cutting tool laterally, the lateral movement of the cutting tool is in the range of 1-10 000 μm, preferably 10-500 μm.

5. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the depth of each in depth removed part of said X-ray absorbing material is in the range of 1-10 000 μm, preferably 10-500 μm.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said sub-step of removing part of said X-ray transparent material comprises the sub-steps of:

removing in depth a part of the X-ray transparent material by means of a cutting tool,

moving the cutting tool laterally, and

removing in depth another part of the X-ray transparent material by means of the cutting tool.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein said sub-steps are repeated until the desired slit depth is obtained.

8. The method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein in said sub-step of moving the cutting tool laterally, the lateral movement of the cutting tool is in the range of 1-500 μm.

9. The method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the depth of each in depth removed part of the X-ray transparent material is in the range of 1-1000 μm.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said formed second and third slits have a slanted surface, whereby an angled slit is formed.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said X-ray transparent material comprises carbon, plastic, glue or any other material or mixture of materials with low atomic number.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said X-ray absorbing material comprises wolfram, lead, gold, copper or any other material or mixture of materials with high atomic number.

13. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said X-ray absorbing material comprises a mixture of an absorbing material of high atomic number, such as gold, lead, tungsten or copper mixed with a binding material such as glue or plastic.

14. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said X-ray transparent part ( 5 ) has a width in the range of 10-500 μm.

15. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the desired depth is in the range of 1-1000 μm.

16. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said steps are repeated forming a collimator having several slits.

17. The method as claimed in claim 15 , wherein said several slits have different angles.