Image forming apparatus using solid image-pickup element

DETAILED DESCRIPTION An object of this invention is to provide an image forming apparatus in which surfaces for forming and developing a latent image are separately provided, so that the apparatus has high resistance to a damage due to attachment of toners or ink.
Another object of this invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of forming and developing an optical latent image using only one exposure system with high quality and high resolution.
In order to attain the above objects, an image forming apparatus according to this invention in which an optical latent image is formed with a light image and then the optical latent image is developed with toners to thereby form a visible image corresponding to the latent image, comprises a solid image-pickup device having a number of photoelectric conversion elements each having a light receiving surface for converting an image light incident thereto into an electrical signal representing an amount of the incident image light, and a number of storage cell elements each having a developing surface for storing charages in accordance with the electrical signal, to thereby form and store an optical latent image corresponding to the image light, the photoelectric conversion elements and the storage cell elements being arranged in a matrix form and each of the photoelectric conversion elements being laminated on each of the storage cell elements, and a developing unit for supplying developer agent the developing surfaces of the storage cell elements to develop the optical latent image.
Each of the photoelectric conversion elements comprises a p-i-n photodetector for producing an amount of charges corresponding to an amount of light incident thereto, or a photoswitch functioning as a resistance variable in accordance with an amount of light incident thereto, and each of the strage cell elements comprises a positive electrode, a solid electrolyte and a negative electrode.
In the image forming apparatus thus constructed, upon incidence of an image light to the solid image-pickup device, the storage cell elements are charged therein or discharged therefrom by an amount of charges corresponding to an amount of the incident image light to form and store an optical latent image corresponding to the incident image light in the storage cell elements