Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Koji Hitsuishi

Satoshi Kojima

Ryuji Okamura

Kazuyoshi Akiyama

Hideaki Matsuoka

Masaaki Yamamura

Junichiro Hashizume

Toshiyuki Ehara

Hitoshi Murayama

Kazuto Hosoi

Hirokazu Ohtoshi

Hironori Ohwaki

Hiroaki Niino

Tetsuya Karaki

Hiroyuki Katagiri

Yoshio Seqi

The invention provides a method for producing an electrophotographic photosensitive member such that even if abnormal grown portions called spherical protrusionsexist on the surface of the photosensitive member, they do not appear on images, thus making it possible to considerably alleviate image defects. The method for producing the electrophotographic photosensitive member including layers each constituted by a non-single crystal material includes the steps of placing a substrate having a conductive surface in a film forming apparatus capable of being airtight-sealed under vacuum having evacuating means and raw material gas supplying means, and decomposing at least a raw material gas by a high frequency power to form a first layer constituted by at least a non-single crystal material on the substrate as a first step; exposing the substrate with the first layer formed thereon to a gas containing oxygen and water vapor as a second step; and decomposing at least a raw material gas by a high frequency power in the film forming apparatus to form on the first layer a second layer including an upper blocking layer constituted by a non-single crystal material as a third step.

Method for producing electrophotographic photosensitive member, electrophotographic photosensitive member and electrophotographic apparatus using the same

An electrophotographic photosensitive member production process is provided having the steps of placing a cylindrical substrate having a conductive surface in a first film-forming chamber, and decomposing a source gas with high-frequency power to deposit on the cylindrical substrate a first layer formed of a non-single-crystal material, taking out of the first film-forming chamber the cylindrical substrate with the first layer deposited thereon, and placing the cylindrical substrate with the first layer deposited thereon in a second film-forming chamber, and decomposing a source gas with a high-frequency power to deposit on the first layer a second layer having an upper-part blocking layer formed of a non-single-crystal material. Even where abnormal growth portions called spherical protuberances are present on the photosensitive member surface, they can be made not to appear on images, and image defects can vastly be remedied.

Process for producing electrophotographic photosensitive member, and electrophotographic photosensitive member and electrophotographic apparatus making use of the same

A method for performing a cleaning process uses a cleaning gas and high-frequency power upon a film deposition apparatus for depositing a film on a substrate placed in a reactor chamber which can be evacuated to a low pressure. Supplying of high-frequency power is temporarily stopped in the middle of the cleaning process, and the cleaning process is restarted by again supplying high-frequency power. This method is capable of effectively removing by-products from the inside of a reactor chamber and makes it possible to form a high-quality deposition film, in particular, a high-quality electrophotographic photosensitive drum.

Method of cleaning a film deposition apparatus, method of dry etching a film deposition apparatus, and an article production method including a process based on the cleaning or dry etching method

An electrophotographic light-receiving member comprising a conductive support and a light-receiving layer having a photoconductive layer showing a photoconductivity, formed on the conductive support and formed of a non-monocrystalline material mainly composed of a silicon atom and containing at least one of a hydrogen atom and a halogen atom, wherein said photoconductive layer contains from 10 atomic % to 30 atomic % of hydrogen, the characteristic energy of exponential tail obtained from light absorption spectra at light-incident portions at least of the photoconductive layer is from 50 meV to 60 meV, and the density of states of localization in the photoconductive layer is from 1.times.10.sup.14 cm.sup.-3 to 1.times.10.sup.16 cm.sup.-3. Since the in-gap levels of the photoconductive layer has been controlled, the light-receiving member can be improved in environmental stability and exposure memory at the same time and have superior potential characteristics and image characteristics.

Eclectrophotographic light-receiving member and process for its

A process for producing a light-receiving member comprising a substrate and provided thereon a blocking layer and a photoconductive layer each comprised of a non-monocrystalline material is disclosed in which the blocking layer is comprised of a non-monocrystalline material comprising silicon atoms as matrix and at least one kind of atoms selected from the group consisting of carbon atoms, oxygen atoms and nitrogen atoms, the process comprising forming the blocking layer and the photoconductive layer by plasma CVD using glow discharge decomposition of a starting material gas caused by applying to the starting material gas an electromagnetic wave with a frequency of from 20 MHz to 450 MHz.

Process for forming deposited film for light-receiving member,

An electrophotographic light-receiving member comprising a conductive substrate 101 and laminated thereto a non-monocrystalline material photoconductive layer 102 and a surface layer 103. The photoconductive layer 102 is mainly composed of silicon atoms and contains at least carbon atoms and hydrogen atoms. The percentage of carbon atoms having a carbon-carbon bond in the photoconductive layer is controlled to be not more than 60% based on the whole carbon atoms contained therein, and, in an instance in which a blocking layer 104 is provided between the conductive substrate 101 and the photoconductive layer 102, the percentage of carbon atoms having a carbon-carbon bond in the blocking layer is also controlled. This makes it possible to prevent clusters of carbon atoms from being formed in the photoconductive layer or blocking layer. Making the carbon atoms have a uniform distribution in the silicon film enables improvement in electrophotographic performances such as charge performance, sensitivity, residual potential, ghost-free properties, etc.

Growing community of inventors

Nara, Japan

Koji Hitsuishi