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.times.10.sup.-3 to 5.times.10.sup.4 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.times.10.sup.3 to 5.times.10.sup.5 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.times.10.sup.5 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.times.10.sup.5 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.times.10.sup.5 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.times.10.sup.5 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.times.10.sup.5 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.times.10.sup.5 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.times.10.sup.5 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.times.10.sup.5 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.times.10.sup.5 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.times.10.sup.5 atomic ppm.
- 26. The process according to claim 1, wherein the lower layer is 0.03 to 5 .mu.m thick and the upper layer is 1 to 130 .mu.m thick.
Priority Claims (8)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
62-101022 |
Apr 1987 |
JPX |
|
62-107013 |
Apr 1987 |
JPX |
|
62-111623 |
May 1987 |
JPX |
|
62-112160 |
May 1987 |
JPX |
|
62-161539 |
Jun 1987 |
JPX |
|
62-196567 |
Aug 1987 |
JPX |
|
62-197830 |
Aug 1987 |
JPX |
|
62-317417 |
Dec 1987 |
JPX |
|
Parent Case Info
This application is a division of application Ser. No. 183,998 filed Apr. 20, 1988, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,906,542.
US Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
4460669 |
Ogawa et al. |
Jul 1984 |
|
4501807 |
Shirai et al. |
Feb 1985 |
|
Foreign Referenced Citations (3)
Number |
Date |
Country |
59-28162 |
Mar 1984 |
JPX |
59-86056 |
May 1984 |
JPX |
61-48865 |
Mar 1986 |
JPX |
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
183998 |
Apr 1988 |
|