September 19, 2007 — Siemens Medical Solutions and Xintek Inc. have agreed to establish a joint venture company, XinRay Systems, in Research Triangle Park, N.C., to develop a new multi-pixel X-ray source technology for a broad range of diagnostic imaging applications. Siemens and Xintek have developed a nanotechnology-based field emission X-ray source technology that they say fundamentally changes how X-ray radiation is generated and used. The partners expect this technology to enable new diagnostic imaging systems with enhanced performance and new capabilities.

X-ray radiation is widely used today for a broad range of applications, including medical imaging and therapy, homeland security, and industrial inspection. The basic design of the X-ray tubes, however, has not changed significantly for more than a hundred years.

Peter Schardt, Ph.D., department head, research and development, Siemens Medical Solutions, says his company looks forward, with Xintek, to “further advancing X-ray with the incorporation of breakthrough nanotechnologies.”

The joint venture company combines the activities Siemens and Xintek have been undertaking jointly over the past two years under one roof in North Carolina and is staffed by a technical team transferred from Xintek and Siemens facilities in Germany and China.