Patent ID: 6987836

Claim:
A method for manufacturing at least a portion of a grid or collimator with at least some non-parallel walls orientation, having at least one layer comprising a plurality of walls defining openings therein, and being adaptable for use with an electromagnetic energy emitting device that generates a sheet x-ray beam with the long dimension in the x-direction and the short dimension in the y-dimension propagating in the z-direction, the method comprising the steps of: attaching a photoresist material onto a substrate; covering the photoresist with a mask having a plurality of aperture therein; irradiating parallel sheet beam of x-rays of energy onto the first mask, such that some of the rays of energy enter at least some of the apertures in the first mask and strike portions of the photoresist as the first mask and photoresist/substrate assembly scans in the y-direction and the assembly forms a predetermined angle with respect to the z-direction at each y-location; covering the photoresist with a second mask having a plurality of aperture therein; rotating the photoresist/substrate assembly by approximately an angle θ, in an x-y plane; irradiating parallel sheet beam of x-rays of energy onto the second mask, such that some of the rays of energy enter at least some of the apertures in the second mask and strike portions of the photoresist as the second mask and photoresist/substrate assembly scans in the y-direction and the assembly forms a second set of predetermined angles with respect to the z-direction at each y-location; rotating the photoresist/substrate by approximately an angle θ/2, in an x-y plane and covering the photoresist with a third mask having a plurality of aperture therein to form corners of the focused grid or collimator; irradiating parallel sheet beam of x-rays of energy onto the third mask, such that some of the rays of energy enter at least some of the apertures in the third mask and strike portions of the photoresist as the third mask and photoresist/substrate assembly scans in the y-direction and the assembly forms a third set of predetermined angles with respect to the z-direction at each y-location; removing portions of said photoresist material to create openings in said photoresist material exposing areas of said substrate; and placing septal wall material in said openings in said photoresist material on said exposed areas of said substrate.