JPH02230257A - Image forming member for electrophotography - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To uniformize the constitution of the boundary between a conductive substrate and photoconductive layers deposited thereon by providing a conductive film having a specific film thickness between the substrate and the photoconductive layers. CONSTITUTION:This member has >=1 layers of the photoconductive layers 2 consisting of amorphous silicon contg. at least one or more of hydrogen, fluorine, nitrogen, boron and phosphorus laminated on the conductive substrate 1. The conductive film having >=0.05mu film thickness is provided between the substrate 1 and the photoconductive layers 2. The recesses or aluminum alloy additives 3 on the conductive substrate 1 are coated in this way, by which the constitution of the boundary between the conductive substrate 1 and the photoconductive layers 2 deposited thereon is uniformized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an electrophotographic image forming member. [Prior Art] Recording members used to form, develop, and transfer electrostatic latent images in laser printers and electrophotographic devices consist of a photoconductive film (photoconductive layer) coated on a conductive support. This is what I did.

Conventionally, this conductive support has been manufactured using JIS-2000 because the material is cheap, it is easy to process, and the surface precision of the micrometer order required by the electrostatic latent image forming process can be easily obtained. Aluminum alloys such as A3003 and A6063 have been used.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The above conventional technology has the following problems. usually,
In the case of an imaging member in which the photoconductive film is based on non-quality silicon, the thickness of the photoconductive member is 15 to 30 μm which is sufficient to form an electrostatic latent image in the electrostatic latent imaging process. Therefore, if there are additives in the conductive support and the surface shape of the conductive support, the distribution of the additives exposed on the surface may make the interface between the conductive support and the photoconductive film uneven. , which may cause variations in the charge distribution and photoconductive properties during charge latent image formation. In particular, when the conductive support is made of aluminum alloy, it is necessary to finish it in a mirror state (surface roughness of 0.1S or less) due to the requirements of the electrostatic latent image forming process of electrophotographic equipment, and therefore Wet etching with a weak alkaline solution or dry etching with chlorine gas is performed to degrease the oil during finishing cutting and to remove surface oxides. When etching is performed in this way, the additives contained in the aluminum alloy (A30
Due to the difference in etching speed between aluminum (manganese, etc. for 03 alloy, silicon, magnesium, etc. for A6063 alloy) and aluminum, the additive may protrude on the surface, or the protrusion may become too protrusive and only the part of the additive may peel off, creating a recess. Sometimes it remains. In particular, when it remains as a protrusion, it may be stably surrounded by aluminum or on the verge of peeling off.A photoconductive film is deposited on the aluminum alloy surface prepared in this way, and an image is formed. When creating a component, if there is an additive that protrudes too much and has insufficient conductivity with the surrounding aluminum, as described above, the photoconductive film attached to the additive may be partially damaged due to internal stress. When the photoconductive member is used as an image forming member, carriers (electrons or holes) generated from the photoconductive member cannot flow to the conductive support, and surface charges remain in that area, resulting in poor printing. becomes.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides an electrophotographic image forming member in which the structure of the interface between a conductive support and a photoconductive calendar attached thereto can be made uniform. The purpose is to

[Means to solve the problem]

The above object is achieved by providing a conductive film having a thickness of 0.05 μm or more between the support and the leading ml. [Operation] Since the above means is provided, a conductive film (
A thin aluminum film) is formed to cover the recesses or aluminum alloy additives on the conductive support and to configure the interface between the conductive support and the deposited photoconductive@layer. It can be made uniform.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be explained below based on the illustrated embodiments. An embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. Hydrogen, fluorine, nitrogen,
An electrophotographic image forming member having one or more photoconductive layers 2 made of non-quality silicon containing one or more of boron and phosphorus, and in this example, between the support 1 and the photoconductive layer 2,
. A conductive film having a thickness of 0.05 μm or more was provided. By doing this, a conductive film is formed on the conductive support 1, and the recesses or aluminum alloy additives 3 on the conductive support 1 are covered. The outer surface of an aluminum cylindrical material made of JIS-A3003 alloy can provide an electrophotographic image forming member that makes it possible to make the structure of the interface between the body 1 and the deposited photoconductive layer 2 uniform. A mirror-finished cylindrical material was prepared by processing the material to a surface roughness of 0.1S or less, which was degreased and surface-etched by alkali treatment, rinsed with ultrapure water, and dried in a drying oven with a clean atmosphere.

Next, the conductive support 1 of the aluminum alloy cylindrical material was set in a vacuum evaporation apparatus, and an aluminum ingot with a purity of 99.9% was placed in a tungsten basket, and the tungsten was melted by applying electricity to serve as an evaporation source. The aluminum alloy cylindrical material was heated to 300°C while being rotated at a speed of 1 Orpm in a 10-4 Pa atmosphere. 3QO
After reaching 'C', it was confirmed that the aluminum in the tungsten basket had melted, the shutter between the cylindrical material and the basket was opened, and an aluminum film 4 (conductive film) of about 4 μm was deposited.

Next, the aluminum alloy cylindrical material, which is the conductive support 1 to which the aluminum film 4 is attached, is set in a non-quality silicon film generator, and the cylindrical material is rotated by IORPM, and
While heating to 0'C, the reaction chamber was evacuated to 3X10-'Pa. Then, monosilane gas (hydrogen dilution 30%) and ciborane gas (hydrogen dilution 1000pp) were placed in the reaction chamber.
m). Nitrogen gas was introduced and the gas partial pressure was monosilane:diborane:nitrogen=360:1:720. Total gas flow rate 1
000ml2/min, reaction chamber pressure 60Pa. After performing glow discharge for 15 minutes with a high frequency power of 1000 watts and creating a charge injection prevention calendar 5, the introduction of nitrogen gas was stopped, and the gas partial pressure monosilane:diborane 3000:1, the total gas flow rate 1200 mQ/min, was set in the reaction chamber. Adjust the pressure to 60 Pa and high frequency power to 800 watts, perform glow discharge for 240 minutes,
A photoconductive layer 2 was laminated. Then, introduce nitrogen gas again.
Gas partial pressure monosilane: diborane dinitrogen = 3500 = 1
: 35000, a total gas flow rate of 1000 mQ/min, a reaction chamber pressure of 80 Pa, and a high frequency power of 600 watts for 10 minutes, and a surface protective layer 6 was laminated.Aluminum alloy made of JIS-A3003 alloy made from the same lot as above. Perform surface etching and drying on the cylindrical material in the same manner as described above, and create an image forming member in which a charge injection blocking layer, a photoconductive layer, and a surface protective layer are laminated using the same process as described above without being coated with an aluminum film. did.

When printing was performed using both of these image forming members,
In the case of this example coated with aluminum film 4, a fine pattern was obtained, and in the case of the case without coating, the resolution was 24.
The number of lines per inch increased from 0 lines/inch to 800 lines/inch. Also,
For continuous printing, the image forming member of this example coated with the aluminum film 4 began to show a decrease in print density over the entire surface after 500,000 copies were printed, but the image forming member that was not coated In the case of , a local decrease in print density was observed after 200,000 sheets, and a decrease in print density was seen over the entire surface after 500,000 sheets, similar to the coated case. In this way, according to this embodiment, an aluminum film free of impurities is interposed between the aluminum alloy, which has surface variations in aluminum alloy additives, and the photoconductive member (photoconductive layer), and the photoconductive member and the conductive layer are interposed. Since a uniform interface between the support and the support is made of the same metal, resolution is improved during image formation and fine patterns can be created. In addition, it is possible to eliminate locations where unstable conduction occurs between the conductive support and the photoconductive member, and it is possible to eliminate image omissions during image formation due to factors associated with the conductive support.

In addition to the above-mentioned vapor deposition method, methods for coating a mirror-like aluminum alloy surface with a conductive film include high purity (99.9% or more) using inert gas ions such as argon ions.
A sputtering method in which an aluminum target is sputtered and fine aluminum particles ejected from the target are deposited on a substrate (aluminum alloy), or a high-frequency electric field is applied to a vapor flow from molten aluminum to ionize aluminum atoms, similar to the vapor deposition method. There is an ion plating method in which the material is deposited on a substrate (aluminum alloy). When sputtering or ion plating is used, the adhesion between the aluminum alloy and the conductive film is increased compared to the vapor deposition method, resulting in a photoconductive member that can withstand internal stress. In addition, the thickness of the conductive film is 0.05 μm in order to fix and coat the aluminum alloy additives on the aluminum alloy surface.
The above range is sufficient, but it is preferably 0.5 to 10 μm from the viewpoint of the protruding state of the additive, uniformity of the film thickness on the laminated surface of the photoconductive member, and mass productivity of the image forming member. [Effects of the Invention] The above-mentioned Thus, the present invention makes it possible to make the configuration of the interface between the conductive support and the deposited photoconductive layer uniform, so that the interface between the conductive support and the deposited photoconductive layer can be made uniform. It is possible to obtain an electrophotographic image forming member that can have a uniform structure.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional side view of an embodiment of the electrophotographic image forming member of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the conductive support in FIG. 1. 1 is the conductive support, 2 is the conductive support. A photoconductive layer, 4 is an aluminum film (conductive film).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Electron having one or more photoconductive layers made of amorphous silicon containing one or more of hydrogen, fluorine, nitrogen, boron, and phosphorus layered on a conductive support In a photographic imaging member, between the support and the photoconductive layer, 0.05
An image forming member for electrophotography, characterized in that it is provided with a conductive film having a film thickness of μm or more. 2. The electrophotographic image forming member 3 according to claim 1, wherein the conductive film is formed by sputtering or ion plating, and the conductive support is formed of an aluminum alloy. An electrophotographic image forming member according to claim 1, which is an image forming member for electrophotography.