Patent ID: 7433637

Claim:
An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a substrate having a conductor layer, using toner containing formation material of a circuitry layer, the image forming apparatus comprising: a photoconductor; an exposure unit exposing said photoconductor based on image information of the circuitry layer to form an electrostatic latent image on said photoconductor; a developing unit developing the electrostatic latent image on said photoconductor by the toner to form a toner image on said photoconductor; an electrostatic transferring unit transferring the toner image on said photoconductor onto the substrate so that at least a part of the conductor layer is covered with the toner image; and a charge removing unit arranged to be in electrical contact with at least a part of an exposed face of the conductor layer and electrically grounded to remove excessive charges caused in the conductor layer accompanying the start of the transfer of the toner image.