Xerography

Xerography or electrophotography is a dry

photocopying technique.
Its fundamental principle
was invented by Hungarian physicist Pl Selnyi and
based on Selnyis publications Chester Carlson applied
for and was awarded U.S. Patent 2,297,691 on October
6, 1942. The technique was originally called electrophotography. It was later renamed xerographyfrom the
Greek roots xeros, dry and - -graphia,
writingto emphasize that, unlike reproduction
techniques then in use such as cyanotype, this process
used no liquid chemicals.[1]

1
15 kV

photoconductor
Cylindrical drum
Light
2

Carlsons innovation combined electrostatic printing with

photography, unlike the dry electrostatic printing process invented by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg in 1778.[2]
Carlsons original process was cumbersome, requiring
several manual processing steps with at plates. It was
almost 18 years before a fully automated process was developed, the key breakthrough being use of a cylindrical
drum coated with selenium instead of a at plate. This resulted in the rst commercial automatic copier, the Xerox
914, being released by Haloid/Xerox in 1960. Before
that year, Carlson had proposed his idea to more than a
dozen companies, but none were interested. Xerography
is now used in most photocopying machines and in laser
and LED printers.

Toner
3

Paper

Xerographic process

The rst commercial use was hand processing of a at

photosensor (an electronic component that detects the
presence of visible light) with a copy camera and a separate processing unit to produce oset lithographic plates.
Today this technology is used in photocopy machines, Schematic overview of the xerographic photocopying process
laser printers, and digital presses which are slowly replacing many traditional oset presses in the printing industry
for shorter runs.
the copiers originally developed by Xerox Corporation
By using a cylinder to carry the photosensor, auto- were manufactured with a surface coating of amorphous
matic processing was enabled. In 1960, the automatic selenium (more recently ceramic or organic photoconphotocopier was created and many millions have been ductor or OPC), applied by vacuum deposition. Amorbuilt since. The same process is used in microform print- phous selenium will hold an electrostatic charge in darkers and computer output laser or LED printers. A metal ness and will conduct away such a charge under light.
cylinder called the drum is mounted to rotate about a hor- In the 1970s, IBM Corporation sought to avoid Xeroxs
izontal axis. The drum rotates at the speed of paper out- patents for selenium drums by developing organic phoput. One revolution passes the drum surface through the toconductors as an alternative to the selenium drum. In
steps described below.
the original system, photocopiers that rely on silicon or
The end-to-end dimension is the width of print to be selenium (and its alloys) are charged positively in use
produced plus a generous tolerance. The drums in (hence work with negatively-charged toner powder).
1

1 XEROGRAPHIC PROCESS

Photoconductors using organic compounds (like zinc oxide or cadmium sulde) are electrochemically charged
vice-versa to the preceding system in order to exploit their
native properties in printing.[3] Organic photoconductors
are now preferred because they can be deposited on a exible, oval or triangular, belt instead of a round drum, facilitating signicantly smaller device build size.

Whether in a scanning or a stationary optical system,

combinations of lenses and mirrors are used to project the
original image on the platen (scanning surface) onto the
photoconductor. Additional lenses, with dierent focal
lengths or zooming lenses are utilized to enlarge or reduce
the image. The scanning system, though, must change its
scanner speed to adapt to elements or reductions.[3]

Laser printer photo drums are made with a doped silicon

diode sandwich structure with a hydrogen-doped silicon
light-chargeable layer, a boron nitride rectifying (diodecausing) layer that minimizes current leakage, and a surface layer of silicon doped with oxygen or nitrogen; silicon nitride is a scu-resistant material.

A drum is inferior to a belt in the sense that although it is

simpler than a belt, it must be buered gradually in parts
rolling on the drum. As a result, the belt is more ecient
to use one exposure to make a direct passage.[3]

In a laser or LED printer, modulated light is projected

onto the drum surface to create the latent image. The
The steps of the process are described below as applied modulated light is used only to create the positive image,
on a cylinder, as in a photocopier. Some variants are de- hence the term blackwriting.
scribed within the text. Every step of the process has
design variants. The physics of the xerographic process Step 3. Development
are discussed at length in a book.[4]
Step 1. Charging
An electrostatic charge of 600 volts is uniformly distributed over the surface of the drum by a corona discharge from a corona unit (Corotron), with output limited by a control grid or screen. This eect can also be
achieved with the use of a contact roller with a charge
applied to it. Essentially, a corona discharge is generated
by a narrow wire 1 4 to 1 2 inch (6.35 to 12.7 mm) apart
from the photoconductor. A negative charge is placed on
the wire, which will ionize the space between the wire
and conductor, so electrons will be repelled and pushed
away onto the conductor. The conductor is set on top of
a conducting surface, kept at ground potential.[5]
The polarity is chosen to suit the positive or negative process. Positive process is used for producing black on
white copies. Negative process is used for producing
black on white from negative originals (mainly microlm)
and all digital printing and copying. This is to economize
on the use of laser light by the blackwriting or write to
black exposure method.

In high-volume copiers, the drum is presented with a

slowly turbulent mixture of toner particles and larger,
iron, reusable carrier particles. Toner is a powder; its
early form was carbon powder, then melt-mixed with a
polymer. The carrier particles have a coating which, during agitation, generates a triboelectric charge (a form of
static electricity), which attracts a coating of toner particles. In addition, the mix is manipulated with a magnetic roller to present to the surface of the drum or belt
a brush of toner. By contact with the carrier each neutral
toner particle has an electric charge of polarity opposite
to the charge of the latent image on the drum. The charge
attracts toner to form a visible image on the drum. To
control the amount of toner transferred, a bias voltage is
applied to the developer roller to counteract the attraction
between toner and latent image.
Where a negative image is required, as when printing
from a microform negative, then the toner has the same
polarity as the corona in step 1. Electrostatic lines of
force drive the toner particles away from the latent image
towards the uncharged area, which is the area exposed
from the negative.

Early color copiers and printers used multiple copy cycles for each page output, using colored lters and toners. Modern units use only a single scan to four separate,
miniature process units, operating simultaneously, each
The document or microform to be copied is illuminated
with its own coronas, drum and developer unit.
by ash lamps on the platen and either passed over a lens
or is scanned by a moving light and lens, such that its
image is projected onto and synchronized with the mov- Step 4. Transfer
ing drum surface. Alternatively, the image may be exposed using a xenon strobe, onto the surface of the mov- Paper is passed between the drum and the transfer corona,
ing drum or belt, fast enough to render a perfect latent which has a polarity that is the opposite of the charge on
image. Where there is text or image on the document, the the toner. The toner image is transferred from the drum
corresponding area of the drum will remain unlit. Where to the paper by a combination of pressure and electrostatic
there is no image the drum will be illuminated and the attraction. On many color and high-speed machines, it is
charge will be dissipated. The charge that remains on the common to replace the transfer corona with one or more
drum after this exposure is a 'latent' image and is a nega- charged bias transfer rollers, which apply greater pressure
and produce a higher quality image.
tive of the original document.[5]
Step 2. Exposure

3
Step 5. Separation or detack

A mnemonic sentence that is helpful to remember the

steps sequence in the xerographic process is: Can I Eric
Electric charges on the paper are partially neutralized by Do The Funky Chicken Dance? (Charging, Imaging, ExAC from a second corona, usually constructed in tandem posing, Developing, Transferring, Fusing, Cleaning and
with the transfer corona and immediately after it. As a Discharging)..
result, the paper, complete with most (but not all) of the
toner image, is separated from the drum or belt surface.

2 Durability

Step 6. Fixing or fusing

The toner image is permanently xed to the paper using either a heat and pressure mechanism (hot roll fuser)
or a radiant fusing technology (oven fuser) to melt and
bond the toner particles into the medium (usually paper)
being printed. There also used to be available oine
vapor fusers. These were trays covered in cotton gauze
sprinkled with a volatile liquid, such as ether. When the
transferred image was brought into proximity with the vapor from the evaporating liquid, the result was a perfectly
xed copy without any of the distortion or toner migration
which can occur with the other methods. This method is
no longer used due to emissions of fumes.
Step 7. Cleaning
The drum, having already been partially discharged during detack, is further discharged by light. Any remaining toner, that did not transfer in step 6, is removed from
the drum surface by a rotating brush under suction, or
a squeegee known as the cleaning blade. This 'waste'
toner usually is routed into a waste toner compartment for
later disposal; however, in some systems, it is routed back
into the developer unit for reuse. This process, known as
toner reclaim, is much more economical, but can possibly lead to a reduced overall toner eciency through a
process known as 'toner polluting' whereby concentration
levels of toner/developer having poor electrostatic properties are permitted to build up in the developer unit, reducing the overall eciency of the toner in the system.

Xerographic documents (and the closely related laser

printer printouts) can have excellent archival durability,
depending on the quality of the paper used. If low-quality
paper is used, it can yellow and degrade due to residual
acid in the untreated pulp; in the worst case, old copies
can literally crumble into small particles when handled.
High-quality xerographic copies on acid-free paper can
last as long as typewritten or handwritten documents on
the same paper. However, xerographic copies are vulnerable to undesirable toner transfer if they are stored in
direct contact or close proximity to plasticizers, which are
present in looseleaf binders made with PVC. In extreme
cases, the ink toner will stick directly to the binder cover,
pulling away from the paper copy and rendering it illegible.

3 Uses in animation
Ub Iwerks adapted xerography to eliminate the handinking stage in the animation process by printing the animators drawings directly to the cels. The rst animated
feature lm to use this process was One Hundred and One
Dalmatians (1961), although the technique was already
tested in Sleeping Beauty (for the animation of the rocks
falling and turning into bubbles), released two years earlier. At rst, only black lines were possible, but in the
1980s, colored lines were introduced and used in animated features like The Secret of NIMH.

Some systems have abandoned the separate developer

(carrier). These systems, known as monocomponent, op- 3.1 Examples of feature lms using the xerography process
erate as above, but use either a magnetic toner or fusible
developer. There is no need to replace worn-out de One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
veloper, as the user eectively replaces it along with
the toner. An alternative developing system, developed
The Sword in the Stone (1963)
by KIP from an abandoned line of research by Xerox,
completely replaces magnetic toner manipulation and the
Mary Poppins (1964)
cleaning system, with a series of computer-controlled,
The Jungle Book (1967)
varying biases. The toner is printed directly onto the
drum, by direct contact with a rubber developing roller
The Aristocats (1970)
which, by reversing the bias, removes all the unwanted
toner and returns it to the developer unit for reuse.
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
The development of xerography has led to new technolo Robin Hood (1973)
gies that has the potential to eventually eradicate traditional oset printing machines. These new machines that
The Twelve Tasks of Asterix (1976)
print in full CMYK color, such as Xeikon, use xerography
but provide nearly the quality of traditional ink prints.
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)

5
The Rescuers (1977)
Petes Dragon (1977)
The Ballade of the Daltons (1978)
The Fox and the Hound (1981)
The Secret of NIMH (1982)
The Black Cauldron (1985)
The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
An American Tail (1986)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
The Land Before Time (1988)
Oliver & Company (1988)
The Little Mermaid (1989)
All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)

References

[1] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/
xerography
[2] Schier, Michael B.; Hollenback, Kacy L.; Bell, Carrie
L. (2003). Draw the Lightning Down: Benjamin Franklin
and Electrical Technology in the Age of Enlightenment.
Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 24244.
ISBN 0-520-23802-8.
[3] Photocopying processes. McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of
Science and Technology vol. 13, p. 395, 10th edition,
2007
[4] The Physics and Technology of Xerographic Processes,
Edgar M. Williams, John Wiley and Sons (WileyInterscience), New York, 1984.
[5] Photocopying processes. McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of
Science and Technology vol. 13, p. 394, 10th edition,
2007

Owen, David (2004). Copies in Seconds: How

a Lone Inventor and an Unknown Company Created the Biggest Communication Breakthrough Since
Gutenberg. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN
0-7432-5117-2.
Schein, L. B. (1988). Electrophotography and Development Physics. Springer Series in Electrophysics
14. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

External links
Static Pops Pictures On Paper detailed 1949
Popular Science article on the history and technology of xerography

EXTERNAL LINKS

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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Xerography Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerography?oldid=693452146 Contributors: Dreamyshade, Christian List, CatherineMunro, David Latapie, Optim, Scott Sanchez, Owen, Donreed, Altenmann, DocWatson42, Edcolins, Neutrality, Muijz, Maikel, SteppWulf, Mammique, PlasmaDragon, El C, Mwanner, Bobo192, Dsm, Ahruman, Lee S. Svoboda, Wtshymanski, Shoey, Qstorm11, Hailey
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