JPS62195670A - Production of electrophotographic sensitive body - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an image having a high grade by introducing a gaseous carbon fluoride contg. C and F into a vacuum vessel and impressing a high-frequency electric field thereto to expose a base body surface into glow discharge plasma, thereby forming a photosensitive film essentially consisting of amorphous silicon on the base body. CONSTITUTION:The base body 1 is a cylindrical body made of high-purity aluminum and is installed in the vacuum vessel 3 after thorough solvent cleaning. After the inside of the vessel 3 is evacuated to about 10<-3>Torr, gaseous CF4 which is a carbon fluoride etching gas is introduced into the vessel. The high-frequency voltage is impressed between the base body 1 and an electrode 2 to generate the glow discharge, by which the dust, etc., sticking to the surface of the base body 1 are etched. The photosensitive film essentially consisting of the amorphous silicon is then deposited and formed by executing the introduction of gaseous raw materials and the glow discharge on the base body 1 subjected to the dust removal. The high-grade image having no image defects is obtd. by using such amorphous photosensitive body.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an electrophotographic photoreceptor mainly made of amorphous silicon.

(Prior Art) Electrophotographic photoreceptors currently in practical use include amorphous selenium (a-3e) and amorphous selenium arsenide (a
They can be broadly classified into selenium-based materials such as AszSez), CdS-based materials in which cadmium sulfide powder is dispersed in resin, and organic materials. Among these, selenium-based materials and CdS-based materials have problems in heat resistance and storage stability, and are also toxic, so they cannot be easily disposed of and have to be recovered. Furthermore, although organic materials have fewer problems with regard to storage stability and toxicity, they are inferior to other materials in terms of durability.

On the other hand, electrophotographic photoreceptors mainly made of amorphous silicon (hereinafter abbreviated as A-3T photoreceptors) are ideal as electrophotographic photoreceptors due to their excellent photosensitivity, durability, heat resistance, storage stability, and pollution-free properties. Because of its unique characteristics, it is attracting attention as one of the most important photoreceptors. The most common method of a-3i is to introduce a raw material gas such as monosilane gas or disilane gas into a vacuum chamber, and to perform glow discharge by applying a high-frequency voltage, the raw material gas is decomposed and amorphous silicon is deposited on the substrate. It is manufactured by the so-called plasma CVD method in which a photoresist film is deposited as the main component.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, the a-3i photoresist produced by such a plasma CVD method usually has a diameter of several μm to 100 μm over the entire photoresist film. Film defects in the form of granular protrusions occur on the cam, and such film defects appear as significant image defects such as white spots and white spots when the photoreceptor is applied to an electrophotographic process. . The main reason for the occurrence of such film defects is that when a substrate is placed in a vacuum chamber and then evacuated, dust within the device is kicked up and this dust adheres to the substrate. Even if the dust attached to the substrate has a size of about several micrometers, the photoresist film deposited thereon will grow abnormally, resulting in defects in the form of granular protrusions with diameters ranging from several tens of micrometers. In particular, in a high temperature atmosphere, 20 μm
This has been a serious problem because even a small film defect can cause a large image defect.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention introduces a fluorinated carbon-based gas containing at least C and F into a vacuum chamber in the manufacturing process of an electrophotographic window illuminator mainly made of amorphous silicon, After exposing the surface of a substrate to glow discharge plasma obtained by applying a high-frequency electric field, a photoresist film mainly made of amorphous silicon is formed on the substrate.

(Function) By introducing a fluorinated carbon gas containing at least C and F into a vacuum chamber and applying a high-frequency electric field, the surface of the substrate is exposed to glow discharge plasma, and the gas adheres to the surface of the substrate. Remove deposits such as dust and clean the substrate surface.

(Example) Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b) show a capacitively coupled plasma CVD apparatus.

In the figure, 1 is a base placed in a vacuum chamber 3, and 2 is an electrode.

The substrate 1 is a cylindrical body made of high-purity aluminum and has a diameter of 100 nm and a length of 340 fins, and is placed in a vacuum chamber 3 after thorough solvent cleaning. In this state, the inside of the vacuum chamber 3 is set at 10-'torr.
After exhausting the air until
A high frequency voltage is applied between the substrate 1 and the electrode 2 to cause glow discharge, thereby etching deposits such as dust attached to the surface of the substrate 1.

Table 1 Most of the dust adhering to the surface of the substrate 1 is a polymeric compound consisting of silicon and hydrogen.

When this substrate 1 is exposed to glow discharge plasma using a fluorinated carbon-based etching gas, the polymeric compound adhering to the surface of the substrate is completely decomposed and removed. In addition to the above-mentioned CF, examples of the fluorocarbon etching gas include C2F6 and C3F8.

Fluorocarbons such as CaFs, CHF, 3. C, H2
Fluorinated hydrocarbons such as F4, CHCβF2+CC1zF
Chlorinated fluorinated hydrocarbons such as
) and carbon (C) can be used. however,
When Aβ is used as the substrate 1, the surface of the substrate may become rough if chlorinated fluorohydrocarbons are used.
A fluorinated carbon-based gas that does not contain chlorine is more preferably used.

Next, according to the film forming conditions shown in Table 2, raw material gas is introduced and glow discharge is performed to deposit a 30 μm thick photoresist film mainly composed of amorphous silicon on the clean substrate 1 from which dust has been removed.

(The following is a blank space) Table 2 The structure of the photoresist film of the electrophotographic photoreceptor thus formed is shown in FIG. In the figure, 4 is a lower layer, 5 is a first intermediate layer, 6 is an amorphous silicon photoconductive layer, 7 is a second intermediate layer, and 8 is a surface layer.

When the surface of the amorphous silicon photoreceptor thus produced was observed under a microscope, no film defects in the form of granular protrusions of 10 μm or more were observed.

Furthermore, when this amorphous silicon photoreceptor was attached to an electrophotographic copying machine and used, high-quality images without image defects such as white spots and white spots were obtained.

(Comparative Example) A film with a thickness of 30 μm was prepared in the same manner as in the previous example except that the surface of the substrate 1 was not etched with CF a.
As a result of producing a 3i photoreceptor, about 20 granular protrusion-like film defects of 10 μm or more were observed on the surface of the photoreceptor. When this photoreceptor was attached to an electrophotographic copying machine and used, numerous white spots appeared on the entire surface of the copied image.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the present invention, an amorphous silicon photoreceptor without film defects can be manufactured.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 (al, (bl) is a vertical cross-sectional view and a cross-sectional view showing the schematic configuration of a capacitively coupled plasma CVD apparatus used in the manufacturing method of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing the structure of a photosensitive film of a silicon photoreceptor. 1... Base 2... Electrode 3... Vacuum chamber FIG. 1(a)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) In a glow discharge plasma obtained by introducing a fluorocarbon gas containing at least C and F into a vacuum chamber and applying a high frequency electric field in the manufacturing process of an electrophotographic photoreceptor mainly made of amorphous silicon. 1. A method for producing an electrophotographic photoreceptor, which comprises exposing the surface of the substrate to water, and then forming a photoresist film mainly made of amorphous silicon on the substrate.