Abstract: An electrophotographic photosensitive member is provided minimizing the absorption of image exposure having a short wavelength in a surface layer and keeping good electrophotographic properties including resolving power. The electrophotographic photosensitive member includes a conductive substrate, and a photoconductive layer and a surface region layer sequentially superimposed on the conductive substrate. The surface region layer is composed of a non-single-crystal silicon nitride film containing an Group element in the periodic table and a carbon atom and using at least a silicon atom and a nitrogen atom as base materials. In the surface region layer, the Group 13 element content with respect to the total amount of constituent atoms has distribution having at least two local maximum values in the thickness direction, and an the average concentration of nitrogen atoms is 30 atm % to 70 atm %.

Abstract: An electrophotographic photosensitive member is provided in which electrophotographic properties including resolving power have been improved with minimized absorption of image exposure light at a short wavelength in a surface layer. The electrophotographic photosensitive member includes a photoconductive layer composed of a non-single-crystal silicon film and a surface region layer composed of a non-single-crystal silicon nitride film containing silicon atoms and nitrogen atoms, superimposed on a conductive substrate. The surface region layer has a gradient-composition layer in which the composition ratio between silicon atoms and nitrogen atoms is changed and a surface layer in which the composition ratio between them is constant. The gradient-composition layer and surface region layer contain a Group 13 element, and the content distribution of the element in the thickness direction of each layer has at least one local maximum value.

Abstract: To provide a high-image-quality electrophotographic photosensitive member having a high sensitivity for a wavelength close to 380 to 500 nm, remarkable image resolution property in which absorption of the wavelength is hardly recognized, working-environment characteristic and high safety and superior in abrasion resistance and fabrication easiness and reducing optical memories and an electrophotographic apparatus using the high-image-quality electrophotographic photosensitive member. In the case of an electrophotographic photosensitive member having a substrate, photoconductive layer formed on the substrate and surface layer formed on the photoconductive layer and using silicon and nitrogen atoms as base material and containing an amorphous material containing at least oxygen atoms, the surface layer contains nitrogen atoms as an average concentration shown by the following expression (1) and contains oxygen atoms by the maximum value Omax of the number of oxygen atoms in the thickness direction: 0.

Abstract: An electrophotographic photosensitive member is provided which can keep at a minimum the absorption of image exposure light of 380 to 500 nm in wavelength in its surface layer and concurrently can satisfactorily keep electrophotographic properties including resolving power. The electrophotographic photosensitive member has a substrate, and a photoconductive layer and a surface layer in this order provided on the substrate. The surface layer includes an amorphous material composed chiefly of silicon atoms and nitrogen atoms and containing at least oxygen atoms and carbon atoms, and the ratios of the numbers of the respective oxygen atoms, carbon atoms and nitrogen atoms to the total number of oxygen atoms, carbon atoms and nitrogen atoms contained in the amorphous material are each within a specific range.

Abstract: In an electrophotographic image process, a latent image is formed on a photosensitive drum, and a toner image is formed on the latent image. The toner image is temporarily transferred onto an intermediate image-transfer element. The photosensitive drum and the intermediate image-transfer element are brought into contact at an intended contact pressure and are rotated at a prescribed relative speed. At the contact portion, fine vibrations of the photosensitive drum and the intermediate image-transfer element, which can be caused by repeated contact and separation are prevented by controlling the contact temperature between the photosensitive member and the intermediate image-transfer element to be in the range of 15 to 60° C. A kinetic frictional deviation (a standard deviation of a kinetic frictional force) is controlled to be less than the average value of the kinetic frictional force. By suppressing the fine vibration, deviation in image transfer is prevented.

Abstract: To provide an amorphous Si photosensitive member and an image forming apparatus which form favorable images by preventing toner adhesion at a cleaning time. A photoconductive layer 102 containing amorphous Si is formed on an electrically conductive substrate 101 so that a surface of a photosensitive member has an average inclination &Dgr;a within a range of 0.12 to 1.0, more preferably 0.15 to 0.8 within a range of 10 &mgr;m×10 &mgr;m, and an electrically conductive substrate has surface roughness Ra within the range of 10 &mgr;m×10 &mgr;m is lower than 9 nm, preferably lower than 6 nm.

Abstract: Provided are an electrophotographic method and an electrophotographic apparatus that can reduce ghost memory latent in an a-Si photosensitive member, relieve potential unevenness, and provide image copies with high quality. In an electrophotographic process of forming a toner image at least through decharging of a photosensitive member as a recording element, charging, exposing, developing, and transferring, at least a light-receiving layer of the photosensitive member is comprised of an amorphous material; a latent image is formed by the exposing with a light; the light has such a peak wavelength in an emission spectrum as to make minimum a value of optical memory at a unit contrast potential; and the decharging is implemented by use of a light having a full width at half maximum of a peak in an emission spectrum of not more than 50 nm.

Abstract: An electrophotographic apparatus has a light scanning device for guiding a light beam onto a rotary polygon mirror and deflecting the light beam; and a recording medium which the light beam deflected by the light scanning device scans to form an image. The recording medium is an a-Si base photosensitive member. The electrophotographic apparatus satisfies a relation represented by Eq. (I) below; 3.0≧D/W≧1.5  (I) where D is a diameter of the light beam at a reflecting surface of the rotary polygon mirror and W is a width in a main scanning direction of a deflecting surface of the rotary polygon mirror.

Abstract: Provided are an electrophotographic method and an electrophotographic apparatus that can reduce ghost memory latent in an a-Si photosensitive member, relieve potential unevenness, and provide image copies with high quality. In an electrophotographic process of forming a toner image at least through decharging of a photosensitive member as a recording element, charging, exposing, developing, and transferring, at least a light-receiving layer of the photosensitive member is comprised of an amorphous material; a latent image is formed by the exposing with a light; the light has such a peak wavelength in an emission spectrum as to make minimum a value of optical memory at a unit contrast potential; and the decharging is implemented by use of a light having a full width at half maximum of a peak in an emission spectrum of not more than 50 nm.

Abstract: To provide an amorphous Si photosensitive member and an image forming apparatus which form favorable images by preventing toner adhesion at a cleaning time. A photoconductive layer 102 containing amorphous Si is formed on an electrically conductive substrate 101 so that a surface of a photosensitive member has an average inclination &Dgr;a within a range of 0.12 to 1.0, more preferably 0.15 to 0.8 within a range of 10 &mgr;m×10 &mgr;m, and an electrically conductive substrate has surface roughness Ra within the range of 10 &mgr;m×10 &mgr;m is lower than 9 nm, preferably lower than 6 nm.

Abstract: An electrophotographic image process is provided. In this process, a latent image is formed on a photosensitive drum 1, and a toner image is formed on the latent image. The toner image is temporarily transferred onto an intermediate image-transfer member 20. The photosensitive drum 1 and the intermediate image-transfer medium are brought into contact at an intended contact pressure, and are rotated at an intended relative speed. At the contact portion, fine vibration of the photosensitive drum 1 and the intermediate image-transfer medium 20 which can be caused by repeated contact and separation is prevented by controlling the contact temperature between the photosensitive member and the intermediate image-transfer member to be in the range from 15 to 60° C., and a kinetic frictional deviation (a standard deviation of kinetic frictional force) is controlled to be less than the average value of the kinetic frictional force. By suppressing the fine vibration, deviation in image transfer is prevented.

Abstract: An electrophotographic apparatus has a light scanning device for guiding a light beam onto a rotary polygon mirror and deflecting the light beam; and a recording medium which the light beam deflected by the light scanning device scans to form an image. The recording medium is an a-Si base photosensitive member. The electrophotographic apparatus satisfies a relation represented by Eq.

Abstract: In the electrophotographic method of the present invention employing a photosensitive member and forming an electrostatic latent image by a charging step and a light beam irradiating step, in order to improve the dot reproducibility in the output image to thereby obtain an image with excellent gradation property, the amount of potential attenuation in the depth direction at light beam irradiation for one pixel of the photosensitive member is set so as to be not less than 65% but less than 135% of the amount of potential attenuation in the depth direction at the continuous light beam irradiation.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus which largely improves the reliability of electrophotographic apparatuses and can accommodate their extremely large productivity comprises an image forming part which forms toner images on an image carrying member, an image transfer part which transfers the toner images on the image carrying member onto a transfer material, and a cleaning part which removes post-transfer residual toner left on the image carrying member after the images are transferred onto the transfer material by the image transfer part, wherein the image carrying member is an amorphous silicon photosensitive member and an initial average gradient &Dgr;a of the photosensitive member is 0.0001 to 0.005.

Abstract: In order to reduce the cost of a photosensitive member and to prevent the fluctuation in image density and the image smear by highly precise temperature control, the image forming apparatus of the present invention includes: a cylindrical photosensitive member with a conductive substrate having a thickness not smaller than 0.1 mm and smaller than 2.5 mm, and a light-receiving layer having a photoconductive layer on the conductive substrate, the light-receiving layer containing at least amorphous silicon; and a charging device for charging the photosensitive member, wherein the photoconductive layer has a thickness not smaller than 5 .mu.m and smaller than 20 .mu.m, and wherein the charging device is a device for contacting a charging member with the surface of the photosensitive member and applying a voltage to the charging member to charge the photosensitive member.

Abstract: A cylindrical, photosensitive member is disclosed which has a photosensitive layer comprising amorphous silicon provided on an electroconductive substrate, and in which the thickness of the electroconductive substrate is not less than 0.1 mm but less than 2.5 mm, thereby accomplishing cost reduction of the photosensitive member and also accomplishing prevention of variations of image density and image smearing by high-accuracy temperature control.