JPS6360482A - Electrophotographic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently warm a photosensitive body by a simple constitution, and to improve the moisture resistance by using a lamp heater used as a heat source, for a destaticizing part of an electrophotographic process. CONSTITUTION:An electrophotographic device which has used an electrophotographic photosensitive body 1 containing amorphous silicon is constituted so that a lamp of an electrophotographic process has both a function as a light source and a function as a heat source, and an electrostatic residual image which has been formed on the electrophotographic photosensitive body is eliminated, and simultaneously, the photosensitive body 1 is heated by the lamp. For instance, as for the electrophotographic photosensitive body 1, a light absorbing layer 4 provided with a function for absorbing a light beam in an infrared region is provided between a photosensitive layer 3 containing amorphous silicon and a substrate 2, and also, a light beam containing the light beam of the infrared region is projected by the lamp. In this way, the photosensitive body is brought to a temperature rise and warmed by the destaticizing lamp, and the destaticizing effect can be displayed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to an electrophotographic apparatus using an electrophotographic photoreceptor containing amorphous silicon.

[Prior art]

Conventionally, photoconductive materials used in electrophotographic photoreceptors include amorphous Se, composite materials in which CdS, and ZnO are dispersed in an organic binder, polyN-vinylcarbazole (PVK), and polyvinylcarbazole (PVK). There are organic compounds such as phenylamine. Although these materials have high photoconductivity, when used in photoreceptors, they do not have sufficient hardness, so the surface may be scratched or worn out during use in equipment such as electrophotographic copying machines. This has the disadvantage that the film thickness changes and the charging potential changes. Furthermore, since Se and CdS are substances harmful to the human body, special care has been required when handling photoreceptors using these materials. In order to improve these drawbacks, amorphous silicon (hereinafter referred to as a
-Si) was proposed to be used as a photoreceptor (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 78135/1983).

Since a-S i has higher hardness and is less toxic than the conventional photoreceptors, it can improve the drawbacks of the conventional photoreceptors. However, a-Si has problems in that it has lower resistivity and poor moisture resistance than conventional organic compound photoreceptors or amorphous Sa. As a countermeasure to this problem, as described in JP-A No. 57-115556, a film in which a-3i is doped with carbon etc. to increase its resistance is provided on the a-8i layer, and serves as a surface protective layer. However, this alone cannot completely solve the problem of poor moisture resistance.This issue is discussed in the paper ``Symposium ``How Far Have Amorphous Silicon Devices Come?'' Collected Papers, May 1985. This was also pointed out on the 24th, page 66, sponsored by the Electrophotography Society. In order to solve the problem of poor moisture resistance, the photoreceptor should be
It is necessary to warm the photoreceptor to a temperature between 5°C and 40°C so that moisture does not adhere to the surface of the photoreceptor.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

Conventionally, as a method of warming a drum-shaped photoreceptor, a cylindrical surface heater 18 is installed inside the photoreceptor drum 17 as shown in FIG.
The method used was to heat it from the inside. However, this method not only requires a cylindrical heater, but also
Since the heater is provided inside the photoreceptor drum, there is a problem in that the method of supplying power to the heater becomes complicated.

The purpose of the present invention is to solve the above problems with a simple configuration,
An object of the present invention is to provide an electrophotographic device using an a-Si photoreceptor and having good moisture resistance.

[Means for solving problems]

To summarize the present invention, 1. The present invention relates to an electrophotographic apparatus using a photoreceptor containing a-Si, and uses a lamp heater that can be used not only as a light source but also as a heat source in the static elimination section of the electrophotographic process. This has the effect of removing the electrostatic afterimage formed on the photoreceptor and at the same time warming the photoreceptor to a target temperature, thereby solving the above-mentioned problems.

The process of an electrophotographic apparatus generally has the configuration shown in FIG. That is, the surface of the photoreceptor 5 is uniformly charged by a charger 6 using corona discharge, and then exposed to light based on the image information to be printed to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoreceptor S. do. Next, the image is developed 8 with a charged powder called toner, transferred to paper 9, and fixed 20 to obtain an image. On the other hand, after the electrostatic afterimage is erased by the discharge lamp 19, the photoreceptor 5 is cleaned 11 to remove residual toner on the surface, and then the next cycle is started.

In conventional electrophotographic devices, a fluorescent lamp, an incandescent bulb, or a plurality of light emitting elements such as LEDs are used as the static elimination lamp 19, but these light sources have a static elimination effect, but do not emit infrared rays. Since it contains very little, it has no effect of warming the photoreceptor. In order to have both the static elimination effect and the effect of warming the photoreceptor, it is effective to use a lamp heater such as a halogen lamp, tungsten lamp, or infrared lamp, which functions as both a light source and a heat source, in the static elimination section.

However, these lamp heaters have a good spectral distribution as shown in FIG. 5, and emit a lot of infrared radiation. For conventional photoreceptors, such as Se or organic photoreceptors, when a lamp with a wavelength in the infrared region is used for static elimination, it causes deterioration of the photoreceptor, so it is not often used. Furthermore, when such a lamp is used for static elimination, it is necessary to provide a filter that cuts off light in the infrared region.

On the other hand, a-Si exhibits light absorption characteristics as shown in Figure 5, and is not absorbed even when irradiated with light in the infrared region.
It also has the feature of being resistant to deterioration. but,
Since the a-8i photoreceptor transmits light in the infrared region without absorbing much light, the temperature of the a-8i photoreceptor will not rise even if infrared light is irradiated on the a-8i photoreceptor unless additional means are provided.

Furthermore, since the substrate beneath the A-8I layer is made of metal such as aluminum, infrared light is not absorbed on this surface and is reflected by the entire photoreceptor, making conventional technology inefficient with infrared light. It is not possible to heat the photoreceptor well.

The hint that led to the creation of the present invention was based on the premise of developing a technology that absorbs light in the infrared region and raises the temperature of the photoreceptor.
The idea was to use a lamp containing infrared light for static elimination.

As a specific configuration based on the above principle, an electrophotographic apparatus according to the present invention is an electrophotographic apparatus using an electrophotographic photoreceptor containing amorphous silicon, in which a lamp for the electrophotographic process functions as a light source and as a heat source. The lamp is characterized in that it is configured to remove an electrostatic afterimage formed on the electrophotographic photoreceptor and heat the photoreceptor at the same time.

Further, in a recommended embodiment when carrying out the above invention, the electrophotographic photoreceptor described above is provided with a light absorbing material having a function of absorbing light in the infrared region between the photosensitive layer containing amorphous silicon and the substrate. A layer is provided, and
It is assumed that the above-mentioned lamp projects light including light in the infrared region.

[Effect]

According to the above configuration, the temperature of the photoconductor can be raised and kept warm by the lamp for static elimination, and the static elimination effect can be exhibited.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail by giving examples.

Example 1 FIG. 1 shows the Fa configuration of the a-3i photoreceptor in this example. First, the surface was treated with a 1% NaOH solution, and then thoroughly washed with water and dried to clean the surface.
0mm length 350mm + (7) Drum-shaped aluminum substrate 2
is placed in a vacuum deposition container and heated to approximately IX 10-8 Torr.
While maintaining the surface temperature at 200''C in vacuum, chromium oxide is removed by resistance heating and chromium oxide is deposited to a thickness of about 0.2 μm on the aluminum substrate 2 to form the light absorption layer 4. The light absorption characteristics of this film were as shown in Figure 7.The absorption rate varies depending on the film thickness, but the range for actual use is from 0.06 pm to 0.5 μm, with the most suitable value being around 0.2 pm. Ta.

Next, move the drum into a vacuum container for plasma CVD,
After evacuating the inside of this container to about I x 10-8 Torr, SiH number and H
Hydrogenated a-S i was deposited to a thickness of about 25 μm by high-frequency glow discharge at 13.66 MHz while a gas mixture with 2 was introduced to a pressure of 0.3 Torr.
8i bad impression 3 is constituted.

The photosensitive drum 5 thus produced was attached to an electrophotographic apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. 2, and printing was performed. Second
The static eliminator of the electrophotographic device shown in the figure is a rod-shaped halogen lamp 1.
3 and a metal cover 14 that covers it.

Although a halogen lamp 13 with an output of 300W was used, the output does not necessarily have to be 300W. As described above, when the photoreceptor drum 5 was rotated for continuous printing with the halogen lamp 13 turned on, the temperature of its surface could be maintained at approximately 40"C. As a result of a printing test in an environment of 25℃ and humidity of 80% or higher, we were able to obtain a good printed image without blurring or whitening the image, thus preventing the negative effects of humidity. It was confirmed that it was possible.

Embodiment 2 FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the a-8i nausea photodetector using the present invention. The light absorption layer 4 on the drum-shaped aluminum substrate 2' is formed by depositing a chromium oxide film to a thickness of approximately 0.2 μm in the same manner as in Example 1, and then placing the drum in a vacuum chamber for plasma CVD. , inside the container about I x 10
- After exhausting to 30 Torr, the temperature of the drum surface was set to 30 Torr.
While keeping it at 0℃.

A mixed gas of 5iHa and H2 containing Cx H4 is Q
, 3 Torr, and hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-8
A film of CzH (abbreviated as iC:H) is deposited to a thickness of 0.05 μm to form a blocking layer 22. Next, CzH is deposited from the introduced gas.
B-doped hydrogenated a-3i film was deposited to a thickness of about 20 μm by glow discharge of a gas mixture of H2 and BzHs diluted to 50 ppm with 5i)It, except for a, and a-8i Make photosensitive 3. At this time, drum board 2
The surface temperature is set to 200°C. Next, under the same conditions as those for forming the blocking layer 22, a-S i C:
A film of H was deposited to a thickness of 0.1 μm to protect the surface M! j
Make 21. In this embodiment, a carbonized a-Si film with good insulation was used for the blocking layer 22 and the surface protection layer 21, but the present invention is not limited to this material; It's fine as long as it's good. Examples include carbonized a-3i and a-5i films to which oxygen and nitrogen are added.

These films may also be used.

In the above-described embodiments, doping of the B element into the a-3i adverse photosensitive layer 3 improves the mobility of holes in the a-8i film to improve the orientation of the a-8i film. This was done for the purpose of increasing specific resistance and improving dark decay characteristics.

The photosensitive drum produced as described above was placed in the electrophotographic apparatus shown in FIG. 2 in the same manner as in Example 1, and a printing test was conducted under the same environmental conditions as in Example 1. As a result, a good image was obtained. It was confirmed that the material had high moisture resistance.

Example 3 The structure of the a-5i photoreceptor of this example is the same as that shown in FIG. A drum-shaped aluminum substrate 2' with a mirror-polished surface is placed in a vacuum container, and while the surface is maintained at a temperature of 300°C in a vacuum of about I x 10-8 Torr, chromium is heated on the aluminum substrate 2 by a resistance heating method. After depositing the chromium oxide film to a thickness of about 0.2 μm, oxygen gas is introduced into a vacuum chamber and oxidation treatment is performed to form a chromium oxide film, thereby forming the light absorption layer 4.

Next, move the drum into a vacuum container for sputtering,
After evacuating the inside of this container to I X 10-BTorr, while keeping the temperature of the drum surface at 300°C, a mixed gas of Ar and H2 and CHa gas were flowed into the vacuum container to reduce the pressure inside the container to 5 X 13.56MH using a Si target in this atmosphere maintained at 10-8 Torr.
A film of a-SiC:H is deposited to a thickness of 0.05 μm on the light absorption layer 4 by high frequency sputtering method to form a blocking layer 22. Next, the temperature of the drum surface is increased to 200°C. Hz gas and CH4 gas were stopped, +3zHs diluted with H2 to 50ppm was mixed with Ar, and introduced into the vacuum vessel.
i B-doped hydrogenation a under the same conditions as for C,:H film preparation
-3i film is deposited to a thickness of approximately 25 μm to form a-5i photosensitive N3. Next, an a-S i C::H film is deposited to a thickness of 0.1 μm under the same conditions as those used to deposit the blocking layer 22. Surface protection F! Form J21.

As in Example 1, the photoreceptor drum produced as described above was inserted into the electrophotographic apparatus shown in FIG. 2, and a printing test was conducted under the same environmental conditions as in Example 1. I was able to get it.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As shown in the above embodiments, the electrophotographic apparatus using the present invention is extremely effective in improving moisture resistance because the photoreceptor can be efficiently heated with a simple configuration.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a photoreceptor in an embodiment of an electrophotographic apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an electrophotographic apparatus to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a conventional cylindrical heater. 4 is a schematic diagram of the configuration of a conventional electrophotographic apparatus; FIG. 5 is a chart showing the spectral distribution characteristics of the lamp heater and the light absorption characteristics of the a-5i; FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a photoreceptor in an example different from the above, and FIG. 7 is a chart showing the light absorption characteristics of the light absorption layer used in the example of the present invention. 1... Photoreceptor, 2, 2'... Substrate, 3... a −
S i photosensitive layer, 4... light absorption layer, 5... photosensitive drum, 12... static eliminator, 13... lamp heater, 14
...Metal cover, 21...Surface protective layer, 22...
・Blocking layer.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an electrophotographic apparatus using an electrophotographic photoreceptor containing amorphous silicon, a lamp for the electrophotographic process serves both as a light source and as a heat source, and the lamp 1. An electrophotographic apparatus characterized in that the electrophotographic apparatus is configured to remove an electrostatic afterimage formed on an electrophotographic photoreceptor by heating the photoreceptor at the same time. 2. The electrophotographic photoreceptor described above is one in which a light absorption layer having a function of absorbing light in the infrared region is provided between the photosensitive layer containing amorphous silicon and the substrate, and the above-mentioned 2. An electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lamp projects light including light in an infrared region.