Cleaning and liquid contact with solids – Processes – Including application of electrical radiant or wave energy...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-20
2001-11-20
El-Arini, Zeinab (Department: 1746)
Cleaning and liquid contact with solids
Processes
Including application of electrical radiant or wave energy...
C134S002000, C134S003000, C134S010000, C134S026000, C134S032000, C134S040000, C134S041000, C134S076000, C134S111000, C134S186000, C134S902000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06318382
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cleaning method and cleaning apparatus of a cleaning subject, and an electrophotographic photosensitive member and a method for manufacturing the same. The present invention especially relates to a cleaning method of optical parts, electronic parts, mechanical parts and precision parts, and a cleaning apparatus capable of cleaning the same, including an electrophotographic photosensitive member and a method for cleaning the electrophotographic photosensitive member comprising cleaning steps. The present invention also relates to a cleaning method by which fats and oils, fatty acids and resins adhered on the surface of a cleaning subject can be securely removed without using chlorinated solvents, and an apparatus to be used for these purposes.
2. Description of the Related Art
The method for manufacturing a substrate for use in an electrophotographic photosensitive member comprises the following steps.
The surface of a substrate for the electrophotographic photosensitive member is machined to a flatness within a prescribed degree by cutting with a diamond blade using a lathe or milling machine. The substrate subjected to surface machining is then cleaned with an aqueous solution of carbon dioxide, followed by depositing a film mainly composed of amorphous silicon to be converted into a deposition film of a photoconductive material by applying a glow discharge decomposition method on the surface of the substrate. While materials such as a glass, heat-resistant synthetic resin, stainless steel and aluminum are proposed for use in the material for the substrate of the electrophotographic photosensitive member, metals are preferably used for the substrate material in most practical purposes, since metals are resistant to electrophotographic processes such as electrification, exposure, development, transfer and cleaning, thereby to secure high positional accuracy in order to maintain image quality. Aluminum is one of the most suitable materials among them as a substrate for the electrophotographic photosensitive member, because aluminum is ready for machining, cheap and lightweight.
Technologies related to the substrate material of the electrophotographic photosensitive member are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,981 and Japanese Patent Publication Laid-open No. 60-262936. U.S. Pat. No. 4,701,981 discloses a technology for obtaining an amorphous silicon electrophotographic photosensitive member having good image quality by using an aluminum alloy containing 2000 ppm or less of iron (Fe) as a supporting member. The patent publication also discloses manufacturing steps for forming amorphous silicon by glow discharge after applying a mirror machining by cutting a cylindrical substrate with a lathe. Japanese Patent Publication Laid-open No. 60-262936 discloses an extrusion aluminum alloy being excellent in applying vacuum deposition and containing 3.0 to 6.0 wt % of magnesium (Mg), in which the contents of impurities are suppressed to 0.3 wt % or less for manganese (Mn), less than 0.01 wt % for chromium (Cr), 0.15 wt % or less for Fe and 0.12 wt % or less for silicon (Si), with a balance of Al.
Technologies for applying a surface machining to form a light receiving layer on the surface of the substrate depending on the application field of the electrophotographic photosensitive member are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,883, and Japanese Patent Publication Laid-open No. 62-95545. Although U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,754 proposes a technology for cleaning the substrate with water, in which carbon dioxide is dissolved, for preventing corrosion in the cleaning step with water when an aluminum alloy is used for the substrate, no the process for recycling the water used for cleaning, consequently no flow rate of recycling water, is described.
Japanese Patent Publication Laid-open No. 5-61215 discloses the steps of circulating respective liquids in each cleaning vessel, continuously feeding a flesh cleaning liquid into one vessel, allowing to overflow the cleaning liquid pooled in one vessel to transfer it to another vessel, and cleaning the substrate in each vessel. However, no steps for changing the circulation volume of water in one vessel for allowing the liquid to overflow is not described.
While Japanese Patent Publication Laid-open Nos. 63-311261, 1-156758 and 7-34123 disclose a technology for forming an oxide film on the Al substrate, the step for circulating the cleaning water for repeatedly cleaning the substrate is not described.
Meanwhile, a variety of materials such as selenium, cadmium sulfide, zinc oxide and amorphous silicon, as well as organic substances such as phthalocyanine, are proposed in the technology of elemental materials to be used in the electrophotographic photosensitive member. A non-crystalline deposition film represented by an amorphous silicon film containing silicon atoms as principal components, or an amorphous deposition film of amorphous silicon supplemented with, for example, hydrogen and/or halogen (for example fluorine and chlorine) has been proposed as a high-performance, highly durable and non-polluting electrophotographic photosensitive member, some of which being practically used. U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,991 also discloses a technology for the electrophotographic photosensitive member whose photoconductive layer is mainly composed of amorphous silicon.
Many methods such as a sputtering method, and methods for decomposing material gases by heat (heat CVD method), light (light CVD method) and plasma (plasma CVD method) have been known in the art for depositing non-crystalline films containing silicon atoms as principal components as described above.
The plasma CVD method, by which the material gas is decomposed by plasma generated by high-frequency or microwave glow discharge to deposit thin films on the substrate, is most suitable for depositing an amorphous silicon film for the electrophotographic photosensitive member. Practical applications of these methods have been aggressively developed in recent years. Among the CVD methods, the plasma CVD method taking advantage of decomposition by microwave glow discharge, or the microwave plasma CVD method, is recently noticed as an industrial method for depositing a film.
The microwave plasma CVD method is advantageous over other methods in its high deposition rate and high conversion efficiency of material gases. One example of this microwave plasma CVD based on the advantages as described above is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,504,518. The patent described above discloses that a good quality deposition film is obtained with a high deposition rate by the microwave plasma CVD method in a low pressure of 0.1 Torr (13.3 Pa).
A technology for improving the material gas conversion efficiency by the microwave plasma CVD method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Laid-open No. 60-186849. In the technology disclosed in the patent publication described above, an inner chamber (or a discharge space) is formed by disposing the substrate so as to surround an introduction device of microwave energy to obtain a high conversion efficiency of the material gas.
Japanese Patent Publication Laid-open No. 61-283116 discloses an improved microwave technology for producing a semiconductor element. According to the technology disclosed in the patent publication above, an electrode (a bias electrode) for controlling plasma potential is provided in the discharge space. Characteristics of the deposition film is improved by depositing the film while controlling ion impact to the deposition film by applying a desired voltage (a bias voltage) to the bias electrode.
However, there remains some problems to be solved in the electrophotographic photosensitive member formed by the method as described above. One problem is how to prevent abnormal growth in the deposition film.
While abnormal growth portions are sometimes observed in the deposition film grown on the substrate, the portion has a minute area and possesses insufficient surface charge. Generat
Katagiri Hiroyuki
Matsuoka Hideaki
Segi Yoshio
Takada Kazuhiko
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
El-Arini Zeinab
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
LandOfFree
Cleaning method and cleaning apparatus, and... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Cleaning method and cleaning apparatus, and..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Cleaning method and cleaning apparatus, and... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2572845