Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Toshiyuki Ehara

Masaya Kawada

Koji Yamazaki

Tetsuya Karaki

Shigenori Ueda

Hironori Ohwaki

Kunimasa Kawamura

Junichiro Hashizume

Hironori Owaki

Yuji Nakayama

Ryuji Okamura

Kazuto Hosoi

Hideaki Matsuoka

Satoshi Kojima

Tatsuyuki Aoike

Takaaki Kaya

Takehito Yoshino

Toshimitsu Kariya

Hitoshi Murayama

Hiroaki Niino

Hirokazu Otoshi

Koji Hitsuishi

Yasuyoshi Takai

Harumi Ishiyama

Masaharu Miura

Yutaka Udagawa

Hiroyuki Katagiri

Yoshio Segi

Nobuyuki Kume

Nobuo Nakazawa

Provided is an electrophotographic photosensitive member having a photoconductive layer on an electrically conductive substrate, the photoconductive layer being formed from a non-single-crystal material constituted by at least silicon atoms as a base material, and a non-single-crystal layer region constituted by silicon atoms and carbon atoms as base materials, the non-single-crystal layer region being laminated on the photoconductive layer, in which the content distribution of the oxygen atoms to a total amount of component atoms in a thickness direction within the non-single-crystal layer region has a peak.

Electrophotographic photosensitive member

A light-receiving member comprising a conductive substrate, and formed superposingly thereon a photosensitive layer and a surface protective layer in order. The light-receiving member has a surface roughness Ra of from 15 nm to 100 nm. Also disclosed is an image-forming apparatus having such a light-receiving member, and an image-forming method of rendering visible an electrostatic pattern formed on the light-receiving member. The light-receiving member promises stable formation of images over a long period of time.

Light-receiving member, image-forming apparatus, and image-forming method

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 process for producing an electrophotographic photosensitive member comprising the steps of depositing a non-single crystal material composed basically of silicon atoms, on a cylindrical substrate in a deposition chamber, thereafter once taking the substrate with film out of the deposition chamber, then returning it to the deposition chamber, and thereafter again depositing thereon a non-single-crystal material composed basically of carbon atoms. In another embodiment, the process comprises the steps of depositing on a cylindrical substrate a photoconductive layer formed of a non-single crystal material, subjecting to surface processing the deposited film having protrusions present at its surface, and depositing on the processed surface a surface protective layer formed of a non-single-crystal material. Also disclosed is the electrophotographic photosensitive member thus obtained, and an electrophotographic apparatus having that member.

Electrophotographic photosensitive member, process for its production, and electrophotographic apparatus

An electrophotographic image forming method having cyclic steps including a charging step of charging a rotating image-bearing member to charge a surface thereof, a latent image forming steps of forming an electrostatic latent image on the charged surface of the image-bearing member, a developing step of developing the electrostatic latent image with a magnetic toner to form a toner image thereon, and a transfer step of transferring the toner image onto a recording material. In the method, the image-bearing member includes an electroconductive support, and a photoconductor layer and a surface layer formed on the support.

Electrophotographic image forming method and apparatus

To provide an amorphous Si photosensitive member and an image forming apparatus which form favorable images by preventing toner adhesion at a cleaning time. A photoconductive layer containing amorphous Si is formed on an electrically conductive substrate so that a surface of a photosensitive member has an average inclination &Dgr;a within a range of 0.12 to 1.0, more preferably 0.15 to 0.8 within a range of 10 &mgr;m&times;10 &mgr;m, and an electrically conductive substrate has surface roughness Ra within the range of 10 &mgr;m&times;10 &mgr;m is lower than 9 nm, preferably lower than 6 nm.

Photosensitive member and image forming apparatus having the same

Provided are an electrophotographic method and an electrophotographic apparatus that can reduce ghost memory latent in an a-Si photosensitive member, relieve potential unevenness, and provide image copies with high quality. In an electrophotographic process of forming a toner image at least through decharging of a photosensitive member as a recording element, charging, exposing, developing, and transferring, at least a light-receiving layer of the photosensitive member is comprised of an amorphous material; a latent image is formed by the exposing with a light; the light has such a peak wavelength in an emission spectrum as to make minimum a value of optical memory at a unit contrast potential; and the decharging is implemented by use of a light having a full width at half maximum of a peak in an emission spectrum of not more than 50 nm.

Electrophotographic method and electrophotographic apparatus

Electrophotographic apparatus and electrophotographic method featuring a photosensitive member having a linear EV characteristic

To provide a Si photosensitive member and an image forming apparatus which prevents toner adherence at the time of cleaning and forms an excellent image, an electrophotographic photosensitive member comprising a photoconductive layer including amorphous Si and a surface protective layer which are formed on an electroconductive substrate has a difference in the height of concave and convex corresponding to 90% and 50% of a cumulative frequency of the height of concave and convex with respect to the most deepest point of surface roughness concave and convex within a range of 10 &mgr;m&times;10 &mgr;m of the photosensitive member as a standard which is set within a range of 3 nm to 200 nm.

Electrophotographic photosensitive member and image forming apparatus

An a-Si photosensitive member and an image forming apparatus are provided which prevent fusion bonding in digital copying machines and attain satisfactory image formation. Specifically, in order that even when uneven abrasion occurs on a drum surface layer, it may not substantially affect the image, a photosensitive member formed by successively stacking on a conductive substrate a photoconductive layer comprising amorphous Si and a surface protective layer comprised of an amorphous material is provided such that the spectral reflectance (%) satisfies the relation of 0&lE;(Max&minus;Min)/(Max&plus;Min)&lE;0.20, and a center line average roughness Ra of the interface on the surface side of the photoconductive layer and the center line average roughness Ra of the outermost surface of the surface layer, within the range of 10 &mgr;m&times;10 &mgr;m, satisfy the relations of Ra /Ra &gE;1.3 and 22 nm&lE;Ra &lE;100 nm.

Electrophotographic photosensitive member and apparatus using same

Image forming apparatus with light beam control

An electrophotographic apparatus includes a photosensitive body and electrostatic image forming device for forming an electrostatic image on the photosensitive body. The electrostatic image forming device includes an exposing device for exposing the photosensitive body by a digital light in accordance with image information. The exposing device exposes a portion that is a background for an image. A developing device develops the electrostatic image using a developer, wherein a rate throughout the developer of the contained particles have a diameter equal to or smaller than 1 &mgr;m is 5 to 40 number %, and wherein, when A denotes a one-pixel width and Wv denotes a width at half value of a peak in a potential distribution of the electrostatic image formed by exposing the photosensitive drum using the digital light of one pixel, 0.6&lE;Wv/A&lE;1.0 is satisfied.

Electrophotographic apparatus

In the electrophotographic method of the present invention employing a photosensitive member and forming an electrostatic latent image by a charging step and a light beam irradiating step, in order to improve the dot reproducibility in the output image to thereby obtain an image with excellent gradation property, the amount of potential attenuation in the depth direction at light beam irradiation for one pixel of the photosensitive member is set so as to be not less than 65% but less than 135% of the amount of potential attenuation in the depth direction at the continuous light beam irradiation.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Toshiyuki Ehara