JPS63113547A - Electrophotographic sensitive body - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance sensitivity by constituting an photoconductive layer locally formed by alternately laminating plural semiconductor films each made mainly of silicon, partially microcrystallized, and containing one of C, O, and N, different in crystallization degree in each layer from each other, and specified in the thickness of the semiconductor films. CONSTITUTION:The electrophotographic sensitive body is obtained by laminating on a conductive substrate 1 a barrier layer 2; the photoconductive layer 3 locally formed by alternately laminating the plural semiconductor films made mainly of silicon, partially microcrystallized, and containing one of C, O, and N, different in conc. from each other, and having a thickness of the semiconductor film of 30-500Angstrom , that is, the layer region of superlattice structure; and a surface layer 4; thus permitting the photoconductive layer 3 to generate carriers extended in life and enhanced in mobility by the presence of the superlattice structure in the photoconductive layer, and the electrophotographic sensitive body to be remarkably enhanced in sensitivity.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an electrophotographic photoreceptor having excellent charging characteristics, dark decay characteristics, photosensitivity characteristics, environmental resistance, and the like.

[Prior art] Amorphous silicon (hereinafter referred to as a) containing hydrogen (H)
-8i:H) has recently attracted attention as a photoelectric conversion material, and has been applied not only to solar cells, thin film transistors, and image sensors, but also as photoreceptors in electrophotographic processes.

Conventionally, materials constituting the photoconductive layer of electrophotographic photoreceptors include inorganic materials such as CdS, ZnO, Se, or 5e-To, or poly(7-N-vinylcarbazole) (PV).
Organic materials such as CZ) or trinitrofluorenone (TNF) have been used. However, a-Si
Compared to these inorganic or organic materials, H is a non-polluting substance and does not require recovery treatment, has high spectral sensitivity in the visible light range, and has high surface hardness and wear resistance. It has advantages such as excellent impact resistance. For this reason, a-31:H is attracting attention as a photoreceptor for electrophotographic processes.

This a-8t:H is being studied as a photoreceptor based on the Carlson method, but in this case, the photoreceptor is required to have high resistance and photosensitivity. However, it is difficult to satisfy both of these characteristics with a single photoreceptor, so a barrier layer is provided between the photoconductive layer and the conductive support, and a surface charge retention layer is provided on the photoconductive layer. These requirements can be met by creating a laminated structure.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, a-8i:H is usually formed by a glow discharge decomposition method using a silane gas, but at this time,
a -St: I([Hydrogen is incorporated into hydrogen i
Electrical and optical properties vary greatly depending on the difference in plugs.

That is, as the amount of hydrogen that enters the a-81:H film increases, the optical bandgap becomes narrower and the resistance of a-st:a increases, but as a result, the resistance of light to long wavelength light increases. Since the sensitivity decreases, it is difficult to use it in a laser beam printer equipped with a semiconductor radar, for example. Moreover, when the hydrogen content in a-Sf:Hff,% increases, depending on the film forming conditions, (SiF2)n
and 5IH2, etc., may occupy most of the area in the film. In this case, the number of beads increases and the number of silicon dangling bonds increases, resulting in deterioration of the photoconductive properties and the use as an electrophotographic photoreceptor.

Conversely, as the amount of hydrogen incorporated into a-8i:H decreases, the optical bandgap becomes smaller and its resistance decreases, but the photosensitivity to longer wavelength light increases. However, when the hydrogen content is low, there is less hydrogen to combine with and reduce silicon dangling bonds.

For this reason, the mobility of the generated carriers is reduced, the life span is shortened, and the photoconductive properties are deteriorated, making it difficult to use as an electrophotographic photoreceptor.

In this way, the photoconductive layer of an electrophotographic photoreceptor can be formed into a single a-S
If the i:IF (i:IF) layer is used alone, the characteristics will vary greatly depending on the manufacturing conditions of the a-8i:IH layer, and there is a problem in that desired characteristics cannot be obtained.

This invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and has excellent charging ability, low residual potential, high sensitivity over a wide wavelength range up to the near-infrared region, and high sensitivity to substrates.
An object of the present invention is to provide an electrophotographic photoreceptor with good adhesion and excellent environmental resistance.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) As a result of various studies, the present inventors have discovered that at least a part of the photoconductive layer of an electrophotographic photoreceptor is made of silicon as a matrix and part of the photoconductive layer is made of silicon. The above object is achieved by forming a stack of a plurality of semiconductor films that are microcrystalized, containing carbon, etc., and having different degrees of crystallinity, that is, a superlattice structure, and by setting the film thickness of these semiconductor films to 30 to 500X. Find out what you can do,
This has led to the completion of the present invention.

That is, the electrophotographic photoreceptor of the present invention has a conductive support and a light conductive support. In the electrophotographic photoreceptor comprising a layer, the photoconductive layer includes at least a portion of a silicon matrix, a portion of which is microcrystalline, and at least one of an element selected from the group consisting of carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen. It is particularly characterized in that it is formed by stacking a plurality of semiconductor films containing one type of semiconductor film and having different configurations, and that the film thickness of the semiconductor film is 30 to 500X.

The semiconductor used in the present invention, which has silicon as its base and is partially microcrystallized, is generally called microcrystalline silicon (μc-St).

The above μc-Si is thought to be formed by a mixed layer of microcrystalline silicon and amorphous silicon with a grain size of about several tens of Angstroms, and has the following physical characteristics. There is. First, in X-ray diffraction measurement, 20 is 28~2
It shows a crystal diffraction pattern around 8.5° and is clearly distinguished from amorphous a-81 in which only a halo appears.

Second, the dark resistance of μc-Si can be adjusted to more than 10 Ω·α, and it is clearly distinguished from I-lycrystalline silicon, which has a dark resistance of 10 Ω·α.

The optical bandgap (Ego) of the μc-Si used in the present invention is preferably 1.55 eV, for example. However, it can be set arbitrarily within a certain range. It is preferable to add the required amount of hydrogen to each to obtain the desired E yo and use it as μe-81:H.

This compensates for the dangling bonds of silicon, balances dark resistance and bright resistance, and improves photoconductive properties.

In addition, in actual μc -81, a weak P-type μc often takes on an N-type depending on specific factors such as manufacturing conditions (it is particularly easy to change to an N-type). Therefore, it is desirable to lightly dope impurities having opposite conductivity types to cancel out the P type or N type when rounding to type 1, which is necessary to form a superlattice structure.

(Function) In the electrophotographic photoreceptor of the present invention, since the photoconductive layer is provided with the superlattice structure, the lifetime of carriers generated in this region is long and the mobility is also low. Although the theory has not yet been fully established, there is no doubt that this is a quantum effect due to the periodic well potential characteristic of the superlattice structure, and this is particularly referred to as the superlattice effect.

In this way, the mobility of carriers in the photoconductive layer is large.
In addition, as the life of the carrier becomes longer, the sensitivity of the electrophotographic photoreceptor is significantly improved.

Well, in the present invention, since μc-81 contains at least one of carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen, it not only adjusts the band gap as described above, but also increases the resistance of the photoconductive layer. The charge retention ability of the surface can be increased.

(Example) FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a cross-sectional structure of an electrophotographic photoreceptor according to an example of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a conductive support. A barrier layer 2 is formed on the conductive support, and a photoconductive layer 3 is formed thereon. Furthermore, a surface layer 4 is formed on the photoconductive layer 3.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the cross-sectional structure of an electrophotographic photoreceptor according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a functionally separated photoconductive layer consisting of a charge generation layer and a charge transport layer is used. . That is, a charge transport layer 5 is formed on the conductive support 1 and the barrier layer 2, and a charge generation layer 6 is formed on the charge transport layer.

Furthermore, a surface layer 4 is formed on the charge generation layer 6.

Details of each part in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are as described below.

The conductive support 1 usually consists of a drum made of aluminum.

The barrier layer 2 may be formed using pc-8i+a-8i:I (a-BN:H (amorphous boron to which nitrogen and hydrogen are added)).

Furthermore, an insulating film may be used. For example, μc-St
:a and a-8l: By incorporating one or more elements selected from carbon C1 nitrogen N and oxygen 0 into H, a high-resistance insulating barrier layer can be formed. Barrier layer 2
The film thickness is preferably 100X to 10 μm.

The barrier layer 2 enhances the charge retention function of the photoreceptor surface by suppressing the flow of charges between the conductive support 1 and the photoconductive JQ 3 (or charge generation layer 5), and improves the charging performance of the photoreceptor. It is formed to increase the Therefore, when constructing a Carlson type photoreceptor using a semiconductor layer as a barrier layer, the barrier layer 2 should be of N type up to P type in order not to reduce the ability to retain charges charged on the surface. . That is, when the surface of the photoreceptor is positively charged, the barrier layer 2 is made of P type to prevent electrons that neutralize the surface charge from being injected into the photoconductive layer. Conversely, when the surface is negatively charged, barrier layer 2
is N-type to prevent holes that neutralize surface charges from being injected into the photoconductive layer. Since the carriers injected from the barrier layer 2 become noise to the carriers generated in the photoconductive layer 3.6 upon the incidence of light, preventing carrier injection as described above improves the sensitivity. . In addition, μ
In order to make c-8t:H or a-8t:H P-type, elements belonging to Group Ⅰ of the periodic table, such as boron B, aluminum At, gallium Ga, and indium In, are used.

It is preferable to dope with thallium Tt or the like.

In addition, in order to make tie-Si:H or a-8t:H N-type, an element belonging to Group Ⅰ of the periodic table, such as nitrogen,
It is preferable to dope with phosphorus P1 arsenic Aa, antimony Sb, bismuth B1, etc.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the photoconductive layer 3 generates Q carriers upon incidence of light, and one polarity of these carriers neutralizes the charges on the surface of the photoreceptor, and the other polarity A material runs through the photoconductive layer 3 to the electrically conductive support 1 . In addition, in the functionally separated type photoreceptor (FIG. 2), carriers are generated in the charge generation layer 6 due to the incidence of light, and one of these carriers runs on the charge transport layer 5 and moves to the conductive support 1. reach up to.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the photoconductive layer 3
The charge generation layer 6 has a superlattice structure formed by laminating thin layers 11 and 12, as shown in an enlarged cross-sectional view in FIG. Carbon in the thin layers 11 and I2,
Contains at least one species selected from oxygen and nitrogen,
In addition, the crystallinity degrees are different from each other. Laminae 11 and 1
The thickness of No. 2 is in the range of 30 to 200X.

FIG. 4 is an energy band diagram of the superlattice structure of FIG. 3, with the horizontal axis representing the thickness direction and the vertical axis representing the optical band gap. In the superlattice structure shown in FIG. 3, thin layers 11 and 12 have different degrees of crystallinity and therefore have different optical band ears.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the optical bandgap of one thin layer is 1.5 eV, while the optical bandgap of the other thin layer is 1.65 eV, and therefore,
One thin layer acts as a potential barrier, and the other thin layer acts as a potential well. In this way, periodic potential wells can be formed by alternately stacking thin layers with different degrees of crystallinity.

As explained above, by stacking thin layers with mutually different optical bandgaps, the optical bandgap can be adjusted based on the layer with the smaller optical bandgap, regardless of the size of the optical bandgap itself. A superlattice structure is formed with periodic potential barriers in which the layer with a large value acts as a barrier. In this superlattice structure, since the thin barrier layer is extremely thin, carriers pass through the barrier and travel through the superlattice structure due to the carrier tunneling effect in the thin layer. Furthermore, in such a superlattice structure, a large number of carriers are generated by incident light. Therefore, it has high photosensitivity. Note that by changing the bandgap and layer thickness of the thin layer having the superlattice structure, the apparent bandgap ff of the layer having the heterojunction superlattice structure can be freely adjusted.

In the electrophotographic photoreceptor of the present invention, the hydrogen content t in a-Sl:Hsμc-Si:H, etc. constituting the photoconductive layer is preferably 0.01 to 30 atoms, more preferably 1 to 25 atoms. preferable. Dangling of silicon due to such hydrogen content? The dark resistance and bright resistance are balanced, and the photoconductive properties are improved.

a-8t: To form the H layer by glow discharge decomposition method, SIH and Sl are used as raw materials. H can be added into the thin layer by introducing a heptane gas such as H6 into the reaction chamber and causing glow discharge using high frequency waves. as needed,
Hydrogen or helium can be used as a carrier gas for the silanes. On the other hand, 5IF4 gas and s
Silicon heronide such as tct4 gas can be used as the source gas.

Furthermore, even if the reaction is performed with a mixed gas of silane gas and silicon halide gas, a-St containing H:
A H'e film can be formed. Note that these thin layers can be formed not by the glow discharge decomposition method but also by a physical method such as sputtering.

Similarly to a-8i:H, the μc-81 layer can also be formed using a high-frequency glow discharge decomposition method using silane gas as a raw material. In this case, the temperature of the support is set to a-8i
: When forming H, set high and high frequency power.
In the case of −3l:H, if the shi is also set high, μc-81:
It becomes easier to form H. Furthermore, by increasing the support temperature and high frequency power, the flow rate of source gas such as silane gas can be increased, and as a result, the film formation rate can be increased. In addition, SiH4 and S of the raw material gas
By using a gas obtained by diluting a high-order silane gas such as t2H4 with hydrogen, μc-81:H can be formed with higher efficiency.

μc -81: H and a -81: )11&: In order to make the p-type, elements belonging to Group 1 of the periodic table, such as boron B1 aluminum M, gallium Ga, indium In, and thallium Tt, are added. Preferably doped, μc-St: )I and a-8i:H
In order to make it n-type, elements belonging to Group V of the periodic table, such as nitrogen N, phosphorus P, arsenic A3, antimony Sb
, bismuth Bi, etc. are preferably doped. By doping with this p-type impurity or n-type impurity,
Charge migration from the support side to the photoconductive layer is prevented. On the other hand, by incorporating at least one element selected from carbon C1 nitrogen N and oxygen O into μc-St:H and a-8i:H, high resistance can be obtained and the surface charge retention ability can be increased. Can be done.

A surface layer 4 is provided on the photoconductive layer 3 or charge generation layer 6 . Since the photoconductive layer 3 or the charge generation layer 6, such as m-8l:H, has a relatively large refractive index of 3 to 3.4, light reflection easily occurs on the surface. When such light reflection occurs, the proportion of the amount of light absorbed by the light guide OL layer or the charge generation layer decreases, resulting in an increase in light loss. For this reason, it is preferable to provide the surface layer 4 to prevent reflection. In addition, by providing the surface layer 4, the light guide *N3 or the charge generation layer 6
is protected from damage. Furthermore, by forming a surface layer, the charging ability is improved, and the charge can be easily deposited on the surface. As the material forming the surface layer, a-8IN:
These include inorganic compounds such as H, a-8iO:H, and a-SiC:H, and organic materials such as polyvinyl chloride and polyamide.

When the surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor constructed in this manner is charged with a positive voltage of approximately 500 V by corona discharge, for example, in the case of the functionally separated electrophotographic photoreceptor shown in FIG. A potential barrier is formed as shown in . When light (hv) is incident on this photoreceptor, carriers of electrons and holes are generated in the superlattice structure of the charge generation layer 6. Electrons in the conduction band are accelerated toward the second layer 4 side by the electric field in the photoreceptor, and holes are accelerated toward the conductive support 1 side. In this case, the number of carriers generated at the boundary between thin layers with different optical band gaps is much larger than the number of carriers generated in the bulk.

Therefore, this superlattice structure has high photosensitivity.

Furthermore, in the potential well layer, due to quantum effects, the lifetime of carriers is 5 to 10 times longer than in the case of a single layer without a superlattice structure. Furthermore, in a superlattice structure, a periodic barrier layer is formed due to bandgap discontinuity, but carriers easily pass through the bias layer due to the tunnel effect, so the effective carrier mobility is The mobility is equivalent to that in bulk, and carrier mobility is excellent. As described above, the superlattice structure consisting of laminated thin layers with different optical band gaps has high optical conductivity! It is possible to obtain clearer images than conventional photoreceptors.

Referring to FIG. 5, an apparatus and a manufacturing method for manufacturing the electrophotographic photoreceptor of the above embodiment by a glow discharge method will be described below. In the same figure, Gas Dempe 21.22.23.
24, for example, SiH4°B2H6M H2,C
A raw material gas such as H4 is contained.

These gases in the gas container are fed by a pulp 26 for flow rate adjustment.
and is supplied to a mixer 28 via a pipe 27. A pressure gauge 25 is installed in each bombe,
By adjusting the pulp 26 while monitoring the pressure gauge 25, the flow rate and mixing ratio of each raw material gas supplied to the mixer 28 can be adjusted.

The gases mixed in the mixer 28 are supplied to a reaction vessel 29. A rotating shaft 30 is attached to the bottom 31 of the reaction vessel 29 so as to be rotatable around the vertical direction. The rotating shaft 3
At the upper end of 0, a disk-shaped support 32 has its surface aligned with the rotation axis 30.
It is fixed vertically. Inside the reaction vessel 29, a cylindrical electrode 33 is installed on the bottom 31 with its axial center aligned with the axial center of the rotating shaft 30. A drum base 34 of a photoreceptor is placed on a support base 32 with its axial center aligned with the axial center of the rotating shaft 30.
A heater 35 for heating the drum base is disposed inside the drum. A high frequency power source 36 is connected between the electrode 33 and the drum base 34, and
A high frequency current is supplied between them. The rotating shaft 30 is rotationally driven by a motor 38. Reaction container 29
The internal pressure is monitored by a pressure gauge 37, and the reaction vessel 29 is connected via a date pulp 38 to a suitable evacuation means such as a vacuum pump.

When manufacturing a photoreceptor using the above manufacturing apparatus, after installing the drum base 34 in the reaction container 29, the dirt pulp 39 is opened and the inside of the reaction container 29 is heated to about Q, I Torr.
Evacuate to below pressure. Next, Menpe 21.22,2
．． Starting at 9.24, necessary reaction gases are mixed at a predetermined mixing ratio and introduced into the reaction vessel 29.

In this case, the flow rate of the gas introduced into the reaction vessel 29 is set so that the pressure within the reaction vessel 29 is 0.1 to 1.0 Torr. Next, the motor 38 is operated to rotate the drum base 34'ft, the heater 35 heats the citram base 34 to a constant temperature, and the high frequency power supply 36 applies a high frequency current between the stain pole 33 and the drum base 34. A glow discharge is formed between the two. By this trick,
A-8S:H etc. are deposited on the drum base 34. In addition,
N20, NH3* NO2m N2 in raw material gas
By using s CH4+ C2H4e 02 gas or the like, these elements can be contained in a-8i:H or the like.

As described above, since the electrophotographic photoreceptor according to the present invention can be manufactured using a closed system manufacturing apparatus,
Safe for humans.

Next, the results of testing the electrophotographic properties of an electrophotographic photoreceptor according to the present invention formed into a film will be described.

Test Example 1 If necessary, in order to prevent interference, an aluminum drum base with a diameter of 8Qii and a width of 350mm, which had been subjected to acid treatment, alkali treatment, and sandblasting, was installed in the reaction vessel. The vacuum was evacuated to approximately 10-5 torr. While heating the drum base to 250°0 and rotating it at 10 rpm, 5008 CCM of SiH4 gas, B2
) 16 gas to SiH4 gas at a flow rate of 10''''6
, CH4 gas was introduced into the reaction vessel at a flow rate of 100 SCCM, and the pressure inside the reaction vessel was adjusted to 1 Torr. Then, a high frequency power of 13.56 MHz was applied to generate plasma, and a p-type a-SIC was placed on the drum base.
: An H barrier layer was formed.

Next, the B2H6/5IH4 ratio is 10, CH4f! 20 μm by setting the power to O and applying 500 W of high frequency power.
A type 1 a-81:H charge transport layer was formed.

After that, after stopping the discharge by stopping the application of high frequency power and the introduction of gas, the 5IH4
(2 gases are ISLM, CH4ff gas is 2SCCM.

into the reaction chamber, and the reaction pressure was increased to 1. A high frequency power of 1.5 kW was applied with OTorr K adjusted to form a 100X μc-SiC:H thin film (crystallinity 75%).

Next, increase the flow rate of CI (4 gases to 8 SCCM and 100X pc-SIC with high frequency power applied:
An H layer film (crystallinity 60%) was formed. By repeating these operations, 250 layers of μC-5xC with different degrees of crystallinity were created.
:H thin film and 250 layers of PC-SiC:H were alternately laminated to form a 5 μm 17) charge generation layer having a Peter junction superlattice structure.

Then, a 0.5 μm thick a-SiC:H layer was formed on the surface.

When the surface of the photoreceptor thus formed is positively charged at about 500 V and exposed to white light, this light is absorbed by the charge generation layer, and carriers of electron-hole pairs are generated. In this test example, a large number of carriers were generated, the carriers had a long life, and high running performance was obtained. As a result, clear and high quality images were obtained. -1: Manufactured in this test example
When the photosensitive member was repeatedly charged, the reproducibility and stability of the transferred image were extremely good, and it also showed excellent corona resistance and
It has been demonstrated that it has excellent durability such as moisture resistance and abrasion resistance.

Test Example 2 In the same manner as in Test Example 1, a barrier layer consisting of p-type a-SiC:H and an l-type a-
A charge transport layer made of 8i:H was formed.

Next, 100 SCCM of SiH4 gas and 1.2 SLM% of H2ff gas and 4 SCCM of CH4 gas were introduced into the reaction chamber, and the reaction pressure was increased to 1.2 SLM%. Adjust to OTorr to 1.2
100X of μc-Si by applying kW of high-frequency power
C: A H thin film (crystallinity of 5 on) was formed. Then,
By changing only the high frequency power to soow, 100X μc
-SIC: Formation of H thin film (crystallinity 70cm).

By repeating this operation, μc-8i with different crystallinity
250 layers of C:H thin films were alternately stacked to form a charge generation layer having a 5 μm heterojunction superlattice structure.

Next, a 0.5 μm a-SiC:H thin film was formed as a surface layer.

When the photoreceptor thus formed was subjected to the same test as in Test Example 1, it showed similar characteristics.

Test Example 3 A photoreceptor similar to Test Example 1 was manufactured except that a p-type μc-SIC:H layer was formed as a barrier layer. That is, S
iH4 gas at 50 SCCM, H2 gas at ISLM
1CH4 gas and 2800M1B2H6 gas were introduced into the reaction chamber at a flow ratio of 10 to 5tH4 gas, the pressure was adjusted to ITorr, and a high frequency power of 1.4 kW was applied to form a barrier layer made of 5000X μc-SiC:H. was formed. The crystallinity of this thin layer was 70% and the grain size was 40X.

When the photoreceptor thus formed was subjected to the same test as Test Example 1, it showed similar characteristics.

In the above test example, the thickness of the charge generation layer was 5 μm.
m, but it is not limited to n, and even if it is set to 1 or 3 μm, it can be practically used as a photoreceptor.

19. The types of thin layers are not limited to two types as in the above test example, but three or more types of thin layers may be laminated. It is sufficient to form the boundaries of the layers.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, a superlattice structure constituted by laminating thin layers having mutually different crystallinities and therefore different optical band gaps is used for part or all of the photoconductive layer. Therefore, it is possible to obtain an electrophotographic photoreceptor that is highly sensitive to a wide wavelength range from visible light to near-infrared light, has high carrier mobility, and has high resistance and excellent charging characteristics. . In particular, the present invention has the advantage that by appropriately combining materials forming the thin layer, it is possible to obtain a photoreceptor having optimal photoconductive properties for light in any wavelength band.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an electrophotographic photoreceptor according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an electrophotographic photoreceptor according to another embodiment, and FIGS. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the energy band of a superlattice structure, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an electrophotographic photoreceptor manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a photoreceptor manufacturing apparatus. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an energy gap f. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Conductive support, 2... Barrier layer, 3... Photoconductive layer, 4... Surface layer, 5... Charge transport layer, 6...
Charge generation layer, 11.12... thin layer. Takehiko Suzue, Patent Attorney, Attorney
tsJ Band Key...Ia No. 6

Claims (6)

[Claims] (1) In an electrophotographic photoreceptor comprising a conductive support and a photoconductive layer, at least a portion of the photoconductive layer is
It is composed of a stack of multiple semiconductor films that are made of silicon, some of which is microcrystalline, and that contain at least one element selected from the group consisting of carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen, and that have different degrees of crystallinity. , the thickness of the semiconductor film is 30 to 5
An electrophotographic photoreceptor characterized by having a thickness of 00 Å. (2) The electrophotographic photoreceptor according to claim 1, wherein the photoconductive layer contains hydrogen. (3) The electrophotographic photoreceptor according to claim (1), wherein the photoconductive layer contains at least one element among carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen. (4) The photoconductive layer belongs to Group III or V of the periodic table.
Claim (1), characterized in that it contains at least one element selected from the elements belonging to the group
The electrophotographic photoreceptor according to item (2) or item (3). (5) According to claim (1), a barrier layer is interposed between the photoconductive layer and the support, and a surface layer is further formed on the photoconductive layer. The electrophotographic photoreceptor described above. (6) The photoconductive layer comprises a charge transport layer made of an amorphous semiconductor and a charge generation layer made of a laminate of the plurality of semiconductor films. The electrophotographic photoreceptor described in .