JPS62294258A - Electrophotographic sensitive body - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily control film thickness, electrical characteristics and hardness by depositing amorphous aluminum oxide by an ion plating method on the surface. CONSTITUTION:A photosensitive layer is formed on an aluminum substrate by forming a charge transfer layer, charge generating layer and overcoat layer on said substrate. The substrate 1 having such photosensitive layer is disposed in a vacuum vessel 21 and is rotated. The substrate is connected to a DC power source 31. An ionizing power source 24 and a crucible 26 contg. Al2O3 25 are disposed in the vacuum vessel 21. The Al2O3 25 is evaporated by an electron gun 27 and an electron beam 28, by which the Al2O3 vapor is ionized and is ion-plated to the surface of the substrate 1 to form the light transmissive protective film. Since the protective film is formed by the ion plating of the Al2O3, the uniform protective film is quickly formed on the large-area photosensitive body and the wear resistance and durability thereof are improved.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

3. Detailed description of the invention

[Technical field to which the invention pertains]

The present invention relates to an electrophotographic photoreceptor provided with a transparent protective film made of a metal oxide in order to improve the durability of the surface of the photoreceptor.

[Prior art and its problems]

One of the improvements in the performance of electrophotographic photoreceptors used in copiers or printers is longer life, which is mainly determined by the durability of the photoreceptor surface. The durability of conventional selenium-based materials 1 is not the same by providing a photoreceptor surface with a photoreceptor layer made of an organic compound or amorphous silicon. For this purpose, attempts have been made to produce a thin film of metal oxide with a thickness of about 1 μm by vapor deposition or sputtering and apply it to a photoreceptor. However, the former requires post-heating, and the latter takes a long time to form, resulting in poor productivity and poor electrical properties such as film adhesion and residual potential, which poses problems when used as a photoreceptor. may occur.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks and provides an electronic film having a strong light-transmitting retentive film that can be formed in close contact with the surface of a photoreceptor in a short time and with easy control of i-thickness, electrical properties, hardness, etc. The purpose is to provide a photographic photoreceptor.

[Key points of the invention]

The present invention achieves the above object by covering the surface of a photoreceptor with a transparent thin film made of amorphous aluminum oxide deposited by ion plating.

[Embodiments of the invention]

FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional structure of an embodiment of the present invention, and shows lFk
A charge transport rfi2. formed by vapor deposition of an amorphous 5e-Te alloy on an aluminum cylindrical substrate 1 of 120 m and length 2601. Charge generation layer 3. Overcoat 14-3
The photosensitive layer has a thickness of 55 cm. On top of this, an AIhos film 5 having a thickness of 2,000 layers was ion-plated using the apparatus shown in FIG. 2 at a deposition rate of 30 layers/second. In the apparatus shown in FIG.
1 has a gas inlet 22. An exhaust port 23 is provided. A plurality of (eight in the figure) M substrates l are supported on a support body rotated by a rotating shaft 23 in the vacuum container 1, and a direct current i[31
It is connected to the. Furthermore, a crucible 26 containing an ionizing electrode 24°A7xOs25 connected to a direct current source 32 is disposed within the container 1, and the other side of the electrode 31°32 and the crucible 26 are grounded. uzox is emitted from the electron gun 27 and deflected to 270@ by a deflection coil (not shown).
It is irradiated with a deflected electron beam and evaporated. Argon gas is introduced into the chamber 951 from the gas inlet 22 and exhausted from the exhaust port 23 to form a container 951 of approximately 5.7 x 10-"
A discharge vacuum level of Pa and a voltage of about 50 V applied by the electric tA32 are generated between the TLLP01Aj, Q, and i source 26 to generate 7 or 20. ionizes a portion of the ions were mixed. Q, Q, I'tiE1
It is accelerated by the voltage applied by 31 and adheres to the substrate surface, forming a retainer ff1i5. When the electrical properties of the obtained photoreceptor were examined, they were almost the same as before the formation of the protective film 5. The image characteristics were also similar. Durability was investigated by an abrasion test using repeated printing and a crystallization test by leaving it at a high temperature at 50°C. It has been found that the photoreceptor with Film 5 has more than 30 times the abrasion resistance and more than 5 times the crystallization life of conventional photoreceptors. ,VtO. The structure of the film 5 was examined by X-ray diffraction and was found to be amorphous. Further, as a result of examining the chemical composition using X-ray electron spectroscopy, it was found that the composition was approximately stoichiometric. The hardness was approximately 3000 in terms of dynamic hardness. Figure 3 shows the cross-sectional structure of another embodiment, with a diameter of 120 mm and 1 mm.
This is a single N structure photoreceptor for a copying machine having a 55 m thick charge generation/transport N6 formed by vapor deposition of an amorphous 5e-As alloy on an A77 layer 1 with a length of 330 m. The protective film 5 on the surface of the photoreceptor was formed using the ion plating apparatus shown in FIG.
Ionization 1 in three atmospheres: × 10-” Pa and 5.3 × 10-” Pa! The pole voltage is constant at 50■,
2000~ by changing the film formation speed to 26.30.34 people/sec.
16,000 Altos membranes were formed. When the electrical properties of the resulting photosensitive material were examined, they were no different from those of conventional products. Moreover, there was no difference depending on the film forming conditions. The image characteristics at room temperature were also comparable to conventional products. Among them, the thinner the film in high vacuum processing, the better the image characteristics. Thin film processed by high vacuum processing shows less deterioration in image quality in repeated printing tests in a high temperature room at 32°C and 85%, and the improvement in abrasion resistance and crystallization resistance is the same as in the first example. The obtained film also had an amorphous structure and a stoichiometric composition. It has been found that the hardness increases as the material undergoes high vacuum treatment, and that the hardness increases when annealing is performed at 180° C. for 1 hour, for example. [Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, the protective film of an electrophotographic photoreceptor is
By forming by ion plating of ,
A uniform light-transmitting protective film can be formed on a large-area photoreceptor surface at low temperatures in a short time. This film achieves remarkable improvements in durability such as abrasion resistance and crystallization resistance without changing the electrical properties of the photoreceptor.
The present invention is applicable not only to selenium-based photoreceptors such as -As but also to other photoreceptors, such as organic compound photoreceptors or amorphous silicon photoreceptors.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial sectional view of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an ion plating apparatus used for molding the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view of another embodiment of the present invention. It is. 1: AI convex body, 2: Charge transport layer, 3: Charge generation layer, 4 Niobacode layer, 5: V, O, protective film, 6: Charge generation/transport layer, 21: Vacuum container, 24: Ionization power supply, 25
: A7. o, , 28: Electron beam. Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) An electrophotographic photoreceptor whose surface is covered with a transparent thin film made of amorphous aluminum oxide deposited by an ion plating method.