Patent ID: 6625409
Filing Date: 2003-09-23
Classification: G03G

Abstract:
An image forming apparatus comprising:an image carrier comprising a conductive support, at least a photoconductive layer formed on said conductive support, and a surface protection layer formed on said photoconductive layer and including a charge injection layer; a charging member for charging said image carrier in contact with said surface protection layer when applied with a voltage; and a developing unit for developing a latent image formed on said image carrier with toner to thereby produce a corresponding toner image, wherein said surface protection layer has a diamond-like carbon structure or an amorphous structure containing hydrogen, wherein said developing unit develops the latent image with a magnet brush formed by magnetic particles for development, wherein said charging member comprises magnetic particles for charging having a mean particle size smaller than a mean particle size of said magnetic particles for development, wherein said surface protection layer has a volume resistance of 109 &OHgr;Â·cm to 1012 &OHgr;Â·cm and a Knoop hardness of 400 kg/mm2 or greater, and wherein a light transmission of the surface protective layer is 50% or more of a wavelength of light used for exposing the image carrier.