The invention relates to dental radiological image sensors for intraoral
use. What is described is a method of fabricating an image sensor,
comprising steps for the collective production of a structure combining a
semiconductor wafer (12), bearing a series of image detection circuits,
and a fiber-optic plate (20) fixed to one face of the wafer, the
semiconductor wafer being thinned in a step subsequent to the formation
of the image detection circuits on the wafer, and external access contact
pads (28) are produced on that face of the wafer which is not fixed to
the fiber plate, said contact pads being for controlling the circuits and
for receiving image signals coming from the sensor, the fiber-optic plate
having a thickness such that it provides most of the mechanical integrity
of the structure once the wafer has been thinned, and to do so right to
the end of the collective fabrication, the assembled structure consisting
of the wafer and the plate being subsequently diced into individual
chips.