JPS61166552A - Electrostatic latent image carrying body - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the adhesive force of a photoconductive layer to a substrate by providing a silicide layer alloyed with amorphous silicon between the conductive surface of the substrate and the photoconductive layer. CONSTITUTION:The silicide layer having about 10-1,000Angstrom thickness is provided on the conductive surface of the cylindrical stainless steel base 1 of which the surface is worked with good accuracy. The silicide layer 2 is formed by alloying Ti, Ta, Mo, W, Co, Pd, Pt with amorphous silicon (a-Si). Said layer has the high adhesiveness to the substrate 1 and is dense and highly stable in terms of material quality. The photoconductive layer 3 provided on the silicide layer 2 consists essentially of the amorphous silicon to about 20mum film thickness and is added with, for example, a specified ratio of oxygen and nitrogen.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (A) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to an electrostatic latent image carrier on which a photoconductive layer containing amorphous silicon as a main component is formed.

(b) Prior art U.S. Patent No. 4,471,042Ji! The electrostatic latent image carrier mainly composed of amorphous silicon disclosed in R.
Compared to those whose main components are selenium or cadmium sulfide, they have various advantages such as being highly heat resistant and abrasion resistant, harmless, and highly sensitive to light. Furthermore, since it has sufficient sensitivity to long wavelength light, it has the feature that it can also be used for intelligent copiers using copying machines and laser printers.

When this amorphous silicon is used as an electrostatic latent image carrier, the dark resistance of the photoconductive layer is increased, and
It is necessary to have sufficient thickness to obtain the amount of charge necessary for the development process.

(c) Problems to be solved by the invention However, in order to obtain a photoconductive layer of sufficient thickness, depending on the formation conditions of the photoconductive layer and the condition of the surface of the support, the photoconductive layer may be removed from the surface of the support. There are problems with lifting and peeling. The problems mentioned above become more pronounced as the thickness of the photoconductive layer increases.

In order to solve these problems, the present invention provides a silicide layer that is alloyed with at least amorphous silicon to form a silicide, and a silicide layer that is mainly composed of amorphous silicon, on the conductive surface of the support. It has a structure in which photoconductive layers are laminated in this order.

As mentioned above, by providing a silicide layer alloyed with amorphous silicon between the conductive surface of the support and the photoconductive layer, the silicide layer is used to increase the adhesion of the photoconductive layer to the support. act.

(f) Example FIG. 1 is a partially enlarged sectional view of the electrostatic latent image carrier of the present invention.
1) is a cylindrical support made of stainless steel with a precisely processed surface, and (2) is a silicide layer with a thickness of about 10 to 1000λ provided on the conductive surface of this support (1). ) are Ti, Ta, MO, W.

Co, Pd, Pt in amorphous silicon 7 (a-sx
) formed by alloying with the support (1)
It has excellent adhesion with other materials, and is also dense and stable. (Reference numeral 31 denotes a photoconductive layer on the silicide layer (2) with a film thickness of about 2 μm mainly composed of amorphous silicon, to which, for example, a certain amount of oxygen and boron are added.

Next, a method for manufacturing the electrostatic latent image carrier will be described. Molybdenum is coated several times thick on the surface of the stainless steel hollow cylindrical tube.
s1 ions are implanted at a substrate temperature of 400°C and alloyed with amorphous silicon by performing ion beam mixing, and molybdenum silicide is formed on the surface of the support (1). (Mo512) layer (2) is formed.

The support (1) with the silicide layer (2) formed on its surface in this manner can be freely rotated in a sealed container 14) of the plasma CVD apparatus shown in FIG. 2 while facing the discharge electrode (5). Store it in. Next, a rotary pump (6) and a mechanical booster pump (7) are installed inside this closed container (4).
After evacuating to about 1×10 atmosphere, this support (1
) is heated to 20° to 3°C using a rotary heater (8). Sin, gas, B2H gas based on H2 gas, and O2 gas are introduced into the closed container (41), and the gas pressure is maintained at approximately 1×10 atm.

At this time, the mixing ratio of the E2H gas to the SiH4 gas is several tens of ppm, the mixing ratio of the O gas to the S14 gas is several teas, and the total gas flow rate is 300 Cc/min.

In this state, 50 QW of high frequency power with a frequency of 13.56 MHz is applied from the high frequency power source (9) to generate plasma discharge, thereby forming a photoconductive layer (3) containing amorphous silicon as a main component.

In the first embodiment described above, the photoconductive layer (31) was the only layer mainly composed of amorphous silicon, but
As shown in FIG. 3, the photoconductive layer (31 and M).

A blocking layer (301) is provided between the S12 silicide layer (2) for the purpose of preventing the injection of carriers from the support (1), and a blocking layer (301) is provided on the surface of the photoconductive layer (3) to prevent the inflow of carriers from the surface of the support. A three-layer structure may also be used in which a surface layer (302) is provided for the purpose of preventing this. This Mo53-, silicide layer (2),
Support (1) and a three-layer structure of amorphous silicon (30
1), (3), and (302) as the second embodiment.

Next, several hundred amorphous silicon films were formed on the surface of the stainless steel hollow cylindrical tube using the apparatus shown in Figure 2 on the support body on which tungsten was deposited by electron beam. After alloying the surface by heating it to several hundred degrees and forming a tungsten silicide (Wsx2) layer (2), the first
A third example in which only the photoconductive layer (3) was formed as in the example, and a fourth example in which a blocking layer (301), a photoconductive layer (3), and a surface layer (302) were laminated. A latent image carrier was produced.

In order to confirm the excellent characteristics of the electrostatic latent image bearing members of Examples 1 to WE4 according to the present invention thus obtained, a paper passing test and a temperature/humidity cycle test were conducted. As a comparative example, one without a silicide layer (2) and a support (1
) having only the photoconductive layer (3) produced under the conditions of the first example (first comparative example), and the support (1)
A blocking layer (30
1), a photoconductive layer (31) produced under the conditions of the first example, a surface layer made of an amorphous silicon film containing nitrogen (
302) (second comparative example) was selected.

In the paper passing test, an electrostatic latent image carrier is installed in a copying machine, a copy image is transferred through copy paper, and the number of sheets in which image deletion occurs is observed. The temperature/humidity cycle test was conducted under the following conditions: the upper limit was 60°C and the humidity was 90%, and the lower limit was -10°C, and the humidity was as high as possible. The time required for one cycle of the temperature/humidity cycle test is 1 hour for the upper limit, 2 hours for the transition from the upper limit to the lower limit, 1 hour for the lower limit, and 2 hours for the transition from the lower limit to the upper limit, for a total of 6 hours. After the electrostatic latent image carrier is subjected to a temperature/humidity cycle test for an appropriate number of cycles, it is heated in a constant temperature bath at 80° C. for 30 minutes to equalize measurement conditions, and then its characteristics are measured.

The results of the paper passing test and temperature/humidity cycle test are shown in the table below.

(1) Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above description, the present invention provides a silicide layer alloyed with amorphous silicon between the conductive surface of the support and the photoconductive layer, so that the silicide layer Since it acts to increase the adhesion of the conductive layer to the support, it can suppress lifting and peeling accidents of the photoconductive layer due to long-term use or environmental changes.Also, the silicide layer is different from conventional amorphous silicon-based Since the work function is larger than that of the blocking layer, the efficiency of blocking carrier inflow from the support is improved, and the photoconductive properties and reliability of the electrostatic latent image carrier can be significantly improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings all show embodiments of the present invention; FIG.
FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged sectional view of the electrostatic latent image carrier, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a plasma CVD apparatus. (1) Support, (2) Silicide layer, (3
)...Photoconductive layer.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) An electrostatic latent image characterized in that a silicide layer that is alloyed with at least amorphous silicon to form a silicide and a photoconductive layer whose main component is amorphous silicon are laminated in this order on the conductive surface of a support. carrier.