Light receiving member having a multilayered light receiving layer composed of a lower layer made of aluminum-containing inorganic material and an upper layer made of a non-single-crystal silicon material

• US 4,981,766 A
• Filed: 09/06/1989
• Issued: 01/01/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/1987
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Sano, Masafumi, Niino, Hiroaki, Yoshino, Takehito, Aoike, Tatsuyuki, Kariya, Toshimitsu
• Primary Examiner(s): NOT, DEFINED
• Application Number:
  US07/403,396
• Time in Patent Office: 482 Days
• Field of Search: 430/58
• US Class Current: 430/57.6
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 5/08214 Silicon-based

Abstract

A light receiving member for electrophotography made up of an aluminum support and a multilayered light receiving layer exhibiting photoconductivity formed on the aluminum support, wherein the multilayered light receiving layer consists of a lower layer in contact with the support and an upper layer, the lower layer being made of an inorganic material containing at least aluminum atom (Al), silicon atoms (Si) and hydrogen atoms (H), and having portion in which the aluminum atoms (Al), silicon atoms (Si), and hydrogen atoms (H) are unevenly distributed across the layer thickness, the upper layer being made of a non-single-crystal material composed of silicon atoms (Si) as the matrix and at least either of hydrogen atoms (H) or halogen atoms (X) and containing at least one of carbon atoms, nitrogen atoms (N) and oxygen atoms (O) in the layer region in adjacent with the lower layer. The light receiving member for electrophotography can overcome all of the foregoing problems and exhibits extremely excellent electrical property, optical property, photoconductivity, durability, image property and circumstantial property of use.

Claims

1. An electrophotographic process comprising the steps of:

(a) charging a light receiving member having an aluminum support and a multilayered light receiving layer exhibiting photoconductivity formed on said aluminum support, characterized in that said multilayered light receiving layer comprises;

(i) a lower layer (a) in contact with said support and (ii) an upper layer (b) having a free surface disposed of said lower layer (a);

said lower layer (a) comprising an inorganic material composed of aluminum atoms, silicon atoms, hydrogen atoms and atoms of an element capable of contributing to the control of image quality selected from the group consisting of boron, gallium, indium, thallium, phosphorous, arsenic, antimony, bismuth, sulfur, selenium, tellurium and polonium;

said lower layer (a) having a portion in which said aluminum, silicon and hydrogen atoms are unevenly distributed across the layer thickness;

said aluminum atoms being contained in said lower layer (a) such that their content decreases across the layer thickness upward from the interface between said lower layer (a) and said aluminum support and wherein said content of said aluminum atoms is lower than 95 atomic % in the vicinity of the interface between said lower layer (a) and said aluminum support and higher than 5 atomic % in the vicinity of the interface between said lower layer (a) and said upper layer (b); and

said upper layer (b) comprising a plurality of layer regions, each said region comprising a non-single-crystal material composed of silicon atoms as the matrix, and wherein the layer region adjacent said lower layer (a) comprises (iii) a non-single-crystal material containing silicon atoms as the matrix, (iv) at least one kind of atom selected from the group consisting of hydrogen atoms and halogen atoms, and (v) at least one kind of atom selected from the group consisting of carbon atoms, nitrogen atoms and oxygen atoms; and

(b) irradiating said charged light receiving member with an electromagnetic wave carrying information, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image.

2. The process according to claim 1, wherein the amount of said silicon atoms contained in the lower layer is from 5 to 95 atomic %.

3. The process according to claim 1, wherein the amount of said hydrogen atoms contained in the lower layer is from 0.01 to 70 atomic %.

4. The process according to claim 1, wherein the amount of said atoms capable of contributing to the control of image quality contained in the lower layer is from 1×

10^-3 to 5×

10⁴ atomic ppm.

5. The process according to claim 1, wherein the lower layer further contains one kind of atoms selected from the group consisting of carbon atoms, nitrogen atoms and oxygen atoms.

6. The process according to claim 5, wherein the amount of said one kind of atoms contained in the lower layer is from 1×

10³ to 5×

10⁵ ppm.

7. The process according to claim 1, wherein the lower layer further contains a halogen selected from the group consisting of fluorine atoms, chlorine atoms, bromine atoms and iodine atoms.

8. The process according to claim 7, wherein the amount of said halogen contained in the lower layer is from 1 to 4×

10⁵ atomic ppm.

9. The process according to claim 5, wherein the lower layer further contains a halogen selected from the group consisting of fluorine atoms, chlorine atoms, bromine atoms and iodine atoms.

10. The process according to claim 9, wherein the amount of said halogen contained in the lower layer is from 1 to 4×

10⁵ atomic ppm.

11. The process according to claim 1, wherein the lower layer further contains one kind of atoms selected from the group consisting of germanium atoms and tin atoms.

12. The process according to claim 11, wherein the amount of said one kind of atoms contained in the lower layer is from 1 to 9×

10⁵ ppm.

13. The process according to claim 5, wherein the lower layer further contains one kind of atoms selected from the group consisting of germanium atoms and tin atoms.

14. The process according to claim 3, wherein the amount of said one kind of atoms contained in the lower layer is from 1 to 9×

10⁵ ppm.

15. The process according to claim 7, wherein the lower layer further contains one kind of atoms selected from the group consisting of germanium atoms and tin atoms.

16. The process according to claim 15, wherein the amount of said one kind of atoms contained in the lower layer is from 1 to 9×

10⁵ ppm.

17. The process according to claim 1, wherein the lower layer further contains atoms of a metal selected yttrium, manganese and zinc.

18. The process according to claim 17, wherein the amount of said metal atoms contained in the lower layer is from 1 to 2×

10⁵ atomic ppm.

19. The process according to claim 5, wherein the lower layer further contains atoms of a metal selected from the group consisting of magnesium, copper, sodium, yttrium, manganese and zinc.

20. The process according to claim 19, wherein the amount of said metal atoms contained in the lower layer is from 1 to 2×

10⁵ atomic ppm.

21. The process according to claim 7, wherein the lower layer further contains atoms of a metal selected from the group consisting of magnesium, copper, sodium, yttrium, manganese and zinc.

22. The process according to claim 21, wherein the amount of said metal atoms contained in the lower layer is from 1 to 2×

10⁵ atomic ppm.

23. The process according to claim 11, wherein the lower layer further contains atoms of a metal selected from the group consisting of magnesium, copper, sodium, yttrium, manganese and zinc.

24. The process according to claim 23, wherein the amount of said metal atoms contained in the lower layer is from 1 to 2×

10⁵ atomic ppm.

25. The process according to claim 1, wherein the amount of said one kind of atoms selected from the group consisting of carbon atoms, nitrogen atoms and oxygen atoms contained in the layer region of the upper layer (b) adjacent the lower layer (a) is from 9.5×

10⁵ atomic ppm.

26. The process according to claim 1, wherein the lower layer is 0.03 to 5 μ

m thick and the upper layer is 1 to 130 μ

m thick.