Protective AlZrN film for organic photoconductors
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Protective AlZrN film for organic photoconductors Y. C. Chan, X. S. Miao, and E. Y. B. Pun Department of Electronic Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong (Received 5 November 1997; accepted 24 March 1998)
AlZrN protective film with high transmissivity was deposited onto the organic photoconductor (OPC) surface, and the surface hardness was greatly increased by a factor of 1.5–3. The OPC surface protected by (Al1002x Zrx )N (x < 58.5%) film was significantly harder than that protected by AlN film. The electrophotographic properties of the OPC coated with (Al1002x Zrx )N (x < 37.7%) film were also better than those without coating or protected with AlN film, thus demonstrating the suitability of AlZrN film as a protective coating for enhancing the operating life of OPC.
Mechanical wear and tear abrasion is a major limitation to the operating lifetime of organic photoconductors (OPC), because the OPC is relatively soft and easily deformed.1,2 The deposition of a protective film for surface hardening and smoothing of an OPC surface is often an effective method to prolong the operating lifetime of OPC. The protective film must be mechanically robust, water and wear-resistant, and should not cause a deterioration in the electrophotographic properties of OPC. In addition, it should be transparent in the visible spectrum and possess high electrical resistivity. Surface protective layers using a –C, a –Si, a –SiN, a –SiC, a –SiO, and metal oxide films have been demonstrated, but they have the disadvantages of poor moisture resistance and producing image drift.3,4 Our previous work5,6 has shown that AlN film can be used as a new alternate protective layer because it is a hard transparent film and has superior moisture resistance properties. However, the surface hardness of OPC with AlN protective film is not too high. In order to increase further the hardness of OPC coated with AlN protective film, AlN doped with metal elements (such as Ti, Cr, Zr, etc.) can be used. AlTiN and AlCrN films have higher hardness but unfortunately are not transparent in the optical spectrum of interest7,8 and are not suitable. ZrN film has higher transmissivity than that of TiN or CrN.9 In this communication, we demonstrate the use of AlZrN film as a better protective coating for organic photoconductors. AlZrN films were deposited onto the OPC surface (OPC/Al sample) by a NORDIKI rf reactive magnetron sputtering system using a composite target (Al disk 1 pure Zr metal). Pure Ar and N2 gases were employed as the sputtering and the reactive gases, respectively. The flow rates of Ar and N2 gases were set at 25 and 5 sccm, respectively. The substrate was water-cooled and low sputtering power (150 W) was used to minimize the substrate temperature, because the OPC may be damaged at high temperature. 2042
http://journals.cambridge.org
J. Mater. Res., Vol. 13, No. 8, Aug 1998
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The electrophotographic properties of the organic photoconduc
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