At the 2004 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting last month in San Francisco, scientists from the University of Tokyo reported the development of a flexible image scanner that integrates organic transistors and photodetectors. Potential applications include the digital archival of fragile rare books, in which such a scanner might be inserted between the pages, enabling a preservationist to digitize a volume without disassembling it.

The device comprises films of pentacene field-effect transistors and organic photodiodes, which are laminated using patterned silver paste. Image capture is performed by distinguishing the difference in reflectivity between black and white regions of the scanned surface under ambient light, so no optics or mechanical components are required in the device.

The experimental scanner, which features 5184 sensor elements, has an effective sensing area of 2 3 2 in. and a resolution of 36 dpi, but the researchers believe that the latter could be improved to 250 dpi with refinements of the fabrication process.