Patent ID: 6876371

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising at least: an electrophotographic photoreceptor comprising at least a conductive substrate and a photosensitive layer provided on said conductive substrate; a charging device for charging said electrophotographic photoreceptor; an exposure device for exposing said electrophotographic photoreceptor charged by said charging device to light thereby forming an electrostatic latent image; a developing device for developing said electrostatic latent image with toner thereby forming a toner image; and a transfer device for transferring said toner image from said electrophotographic photoreceptor to a transferred image-receiving medium, wherein said exposure device is of a multi beam exposure system which has a surface emitting laser array having two or more light-emitting elements as an exposure light source and which scan said electrophotographic photoreceptor with plural light beams thereby forming said electrostatic latent image, and wherein the outermost layer in said electrophotographic photoreceptor, positioned most distant from said conductive substrate, contains a silicon-containing resin containing at least a charge transporting compound or a characteristic group derived from a charge transporting compound, and having a structure in which bonds formed by crosslinking of an O atom with neighboring Si atoms are formed three dimensionally.