Patent ID: 7848678

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image holding member that is rotationally driven, the image holding member comprising, on a substrate, a subbing layer and a photosensitive layer, a volume resistance value of the subbing layer decreasing in a rotation axis direction of the image holding member, from one end portion of a light source side of the image holding member towards another end portion of the image holding member; a charging unit that charges a surface of the image holding member; a latent image formation unit that forms an electrostatic latent image on the image holding member by exposing to light the surface of the image holding member that has been charged by the charging unit; a developing unit that forms a toner image corresponding to the electrostatic latent image on the image holding member by developing the electrostatic latent image with a toner; a transfer unit that transfers the toner image onto an image receiving member; and a charge removal unit comprising the light source that, after transfer of the toner image, irradiates the surface of the image holding member from one side thereof, in a rotation axis direction of the image holding member, with charge removing light, to remove the charge from the surface of the image holding member.