X-ray imaging data obtained from cold cathodes using gallium-doped zinc oxide (GZO)-coated CNT emitters are presented. Multi-walled CNTs were directly grown on conical-type (250 mu m-diameter) tungsten-tip substrates at 700 degrees C via inductively coupled plasma-chemical vapor deposition (ICP-CVD). GZO films were deposited on the grown CNTs at room temperature using a pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) were used to monitor the variations in the morphology and microstructure of the CNTs before and after GZO coating. The formation of the GZO layers on the CNTs was confirmed using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The CNT-emitter that was coated with a 10-nm-thick GZO film displayed an excellent performance, such as a maximum emission current of 258 mu A (at an applied field of 4 V/mu m) and a threshold field of 2.20 V/mu m (at an emission current of 1.0 mu A). The electric-field emission characteristics of the GZO-coated CNT emitter and of the pristine (i.e., non-coated) CNT emitter were compared, and the images from an X-ray system were obtained by using the GZO-coated CNT emitter as the cold cathode for X-ray generation. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.