This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-287391, filed Sep. 30, 2004, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical recording media for recording information in the form of the change of state of the recording layer upon irradiation with a light beam.
2. Description of the Related Art
Structures of known rewritable and write-once optical recording media will be described briefly.
CD-R has a structure that a recording film and a reflective film are stacked on a substrate. DVD-RW has a structure that a transparent dielectric film, a recording film, another transparent dielectric film and a reflective film are stacked on a substrate.
An example of known HD DVD has a structure that a transparent dielectric film having a high refractive index, a transparent dielectric film having a low refractive index, a transparent dielectric film having a high refractive index, a recording film, another transparent dielectric film, and a reflective film are stacked on a substrate (see Ohkubo et al., preprints of the 14th Symposium on Phase Change Optical information Storage, p. 92, 2002).
An example of known DVD-RAM has a structure that a transparent dielectric film, an interface film, a recording film, another interface film, another transparent dielectric film, an absorbance control film and a reflective film are stacked on a substrate (see Kitaura et al., preprints of the 11th Symposium on Phase Change Optical information Storage, p. 89, 1999).
In these optical recording media, the films on both side of the recording film are formed of a material having high thermal conductivity. As a result, the heat imparted by laser beam irradiation is greatly diffused. Thus, these optical recording media have a problem that sufficient sensitivity cannot be obtained depending on recording conditions, resulting in failure to form satisfactory recording marks. The problem becomes particularly serious in the case of recording at a high linear velocity or in the case of recording by use of a low power laser. Incidentally, the problem cannot be solved merely through use of a high power laser, because such a laser is costly.
Further, in the case where recording is performed in a dual-layer, single-sided disc (see, for example, Tsukamoto et al., preprints of the 14th Symposium on Phase Change Optical information Storage, p. 20, 2002) by irradiating a second information layer with a light beam passing through a first information layer arranged on the light incident side, the light intensity is expected to be considerably attenuated before reaching the second information layer because the first information layer absorbs light to some extent. Therefore, the second information layer is also subjected to the serious problem that sufficient sensitivity cannot be obtained due to thermal diffusion in the films on both sides of the recording layer, resulting in failure to form satisfactory recording marks.
An optical recording media according to an aspect of the present invention comprises a recording film; and a stacked film of at least two dielectric films A and B formed on at least one surface of the recording film, each of the dielectric films A and B containing as a main component a compound selected from the group consisting of an inorganic oxide, an inorganic nitride, an inorganic sulfide and an inorganic fluoride or a mixture thereof, and the refractive indexes nA and nB of the dielectric films A and B satisfying the following relationship:
(nA−nB)/(nA+nB)≦0.05.
Heat conduction can be explained by transmission of lattice vibration of a substance and motion of electrons. However, it was difficult in the past to measure accurately interfacial heat conduction between different kinds of materials. There was no report of heat conduction at the interface of the film materials in the optical recording media.
Under the circumstances, the present inventors have examined heat conduction in nanometer thin films by irradiating the film surface with a laser beam in very short pulses of 10−12 second order. As a result, it has been found that, in a stacked structure of thin films each having a thickness of 10 to 100 nm, the heat conductivity of the thin film itself is substantially equal to the thermal resistance generated at the interface between two kinds of films formed of different materials.
In the optical recording media according to embodiments of the present invention, each of the dielectric films included in a stacked film of at least two dielectric films formed on one surface or both surfaces of the recording film, as viewed from the light incident side, contains as a main component a compound selected from the group consisting of an inorganic oxide, an inorganic nitride, an inorganic sulfide and an inorganic fluoride or a mixture thereof. The inorganic oxide is selected from the group consisting of Hf—O, Zr—O, Y—O, Cr—O, Nb—O, Ta—O, In—O, Al—O, Ti—O, Sn—O, Mg—O, Ce—O, Bi—O, Ga—O and Si—O. The inorganic nitride is selected from the group consisting of Si—N, Ge—N, Sn—N, B—N, C—N and Al—N. The inorganic sulfide includes, for example, Zn—S. The inorganic fluoride is selected from the group consisting of Mg—F and Ca—F. To be more specific, the inorganic oxide is selected from the group consisting of HfO2, Al2O3, TiO2, ITO, MgO, CeO2, Bi2O3 and SiO2. The inorganic nitride is selected from the group consisting of SiN and AlN. The inorganic sulfide includes, for example, ZnS. The inorganic fluoride is selected from the group consisting of MgF2 and CaF2. Incidentally, inorganic carbide such as SiC may be further mixed to the aforementioned compound or the mixture thereof.
In particular, it has been found that the thermal resistance at the interface is prominently high in the case where different kinds of the dielectric materials forming the stacked film are selected from (1) an oxide of Group 2 to Group 16 elements, (2) a nitride of Group 13 to Group 16 elements, and (3) a sulfide of Group 12 to Group 16 elements, and used in the form of a combination of (1) and (2), (1) and (3), or (2) and (3). It is possible to obtain effective heat conductivity lower than that of conventional dielectric materials by selecting, in this fashion, the appropriate dielectric materials for the stacked film. It follows that, if a stacked film of above different kinds of dielectric materials is formed on both surfaces or one surface of a recording film, the heat absorbed in the recording film is less diffused so as to elevate the temperature of the recording film effectively. In other words, the recording can be, performed even with low laser power.
On the other hand, where the refractive indexes of these different kinds of dielectric materials markedly differ from each other, incident light is remarkably reflected at the interface. However, where these different kinds of dielectric materials have substantially equal refractive index, the light reflection at the interface is negligible so as to make it possible to utilize the incident light power most effectively. For application of an optical recording media, different kinds of materials A and B can be considered to have substantially equal refractive index in the case of satisfying the relationship of (nA−nB)/(nA+nB)≦0.05, where nA and nB represent the refractive indexes of materials A and B, respectively. In this case, the light reflection at the interface is substantially negligible so as to make it possible to ensure sensitivity of the recording film.
In the optical recording media according to embodiments of the present invention, the recording film may be formed of a phase change recording film (for example, GeSbTe, AgInSbTe, AgInSbTeV, GeSbTeBi, GeSbTeSn, GeBiTe, etc.), a dye film, an inorganic film such as PdTeOx, PdOx, PtOx, Te—C, Cu/Si stacked film, and an AlSi film. In short, it is apparent that the present invention can be applied to the case where light is absorbed by the recording film and heat is generated therein thereby recording is performed.
In the optical recording media according to embodiments of the present invention, it is not necessary to use a reflective film. However, it is desirable to use a reflective film formed of, for example, Al-based or Ag-based metal in order to ensure sufficient reflectance and, thus, to obtain satisfactory read signals. Further, it is most desirable that the stacked dielectric film according to embodiments of the present invention be interposed between the recording film and the reflective film.
The examples of optical recording media according to embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8. Naturally, the optical recording media according to embodiments of the present invention are not limited to those examples.
The optical recording media shown in
The optical recording media shown in
The optical recording media shown in
The optical recording media shown in
The optical recording media shown in
The optical recording media shown in
The optical recording media shown in
The optical recording media shown in
The method of selecting a combination of the different materials used for the transparent dielectric film (A) and the transparent dielectric film (B) as shown in FIGS. 1 to 8 will be described. Here, a mixture of inorganic materials is prepared using the inorganic oxides, the inorganic nitrides, the inorganic sulfide or the inorganic fluorides given below so as to permit the mixture to exhibit a refractive index equal to that of another compound or a mixed compound.
Examples of oxides are Al2O3 (refractive index of 1.67), TiO2 (refractive index of 2.8), ITO, i.e., In2O3—SnO2 composite oxide (refractive index of 1.8), MgO (refractive index of 1.7), CeO2 (refractive index of 2.4), Bi2O3 (refractive index of 2.5), and SiO2 (refractive index of 1.48);
an example of sulfide is ZnS (refractive index of 2.4);
examples of nitrides are SiN (refractive index of 2), and AlN (refractive index of 2.2); and
examples of fluorides are MgF2 (refractive index of 1.38), and CaF2 (refractive index of 1.44).
Table 1 shows examples of transparent dielectric materials containing the inorganic compounds exemplified above and having a refractive index (or resultant refractive index) of 2, and Table 2 shows examples of transparent dielectric materials containing the inorganic compounds exemplified above and having a refractive index (or resultant refractive index) of 2.2.
Two of the compounds 1-1 to 1-4 shown in Table 1 can be selected for the combination of the transparent dielectric film (A) and the transparent dielectric film (B) shown in each of FIGS. 1 to 8. Likewise, two of the compounds 2-1 to 2-4 shown in Table 2 can be selected for the combination of the transparent dielectric film (A) and the transparent dielectric film (B) shown in each of FIGS. 1 to 8.
Incidentally, it is not necessary that the compounds shown in Tables 1 and 2 have a stoichiometric composition. It suffices for the compounds to have a refractive index falling within the range specified in the present invention and to be substantially transparent to the wavelength of the light source employed. It is not necessary for the compound represented by SiO2 in Table 2, for example, to have Si:O atomic ratio of an integer ratio of 1:2 as a result of analysis. The atomic ratio may be varied within a range of 1:1.9 to 1:2.1.
Also, it is not necessary that the compound for the transparent dielectric film be a pure substance or a mixture of pure substances consisting of an oxide alone, a nitride alone, a sulfide alone or a fluoride alone. For example, the transparent dielectric film may be formed of a mixture an oxide and a fluoride such as Compound 1-3 shown in Table 1 and Compound 2-3 shown in Table 2, or a mixture of a sulfide and an oxide such as Compound 2-1 shown in Table 2. In such a case, attention should be paid to the compound used as a main component, i.e., the compound contained in an amount of 50 atomic % or more. For example, where an oxide is used as the main component, it is desirable to use another material selected from the group consisting of a nitride, a fluoride or a sulfide in combination with the oxide.
As described above, the optical recording media according to the embodiments of the present invention comprises, on both surfaces or one surface of a recording film, a stacked film of a transparent dielectric film (A) and a transparent dielectric film (B) which are different materials but equal to each other in refractive index. The particular construction permits lowering heat conductivity while ensuring the optical characteristics substantially equal to those of the prior art so as to make it possible to provide a high-sensitive optical recording media.
Optical recording media for an Example of the present invention, Comparative Example 1 and Comparative Example 2 were manufactured as follows.
A polycarbonate substrate having a thickness of 0.6 mm with pre-grooves was prepared. The pre-grooves was formed so as to perform land-groove recording with a track pitch of 0.34 μm. On the polycarbonate substrate, a first dielectric film, a phase change recording film of AgInSbTe, a second dielectric film and a reflective film of AgNdCu were deposited successively by magnetron sputtering. The materials given below were used for the first dielectric film and the second dielectric film on both sides of the recording film. These dielectric films were formed by RF magnetron sputtering using a composite target.
An optical recording media shown in
a transparent dielectric film A formed of a mixture of ZnS (80 atomic %) and SiO2, resultant refractive index of which is about 2.2; and
a transparent dielectric film B formed of a mixture of HfO2 (95 atomic %) and SiC, resultant refractive index of which is about 2.2.
In this case, the value of (nA−nB)/(nA+nB) was substantially equal to zero.
A conventional optical recording media was manufactured by using only a transparent dielectric film of a mixture of ZnS (80 atomic %) and SiO2 for each of the first dielectric film and the second dielectric film.
An optical recording media shown in
a transparent dielectric film A formed of a mixture of ZnS (80 atomic %) and SiO2, resultant refractive index of which is about 2.2; and
a transparent dielectric film B formed of a mixture of CeO2 (70 atomic %) and Al2O3, resultant refractive index of which is about 1.98.
In this case, (nA−nB)/(nA+nB)≈0.07>0.05.
Each of these optical recording media was evaluated by using an evaluating apparatus DDU-1000 manufactured by Pulstec Industrial Co., Ltd. The evaluating apparatus includes a laser diode with a wavelength of 405 nm as the light source and a pick-up provided with an objective lens with a numerical aperture NA of 0.65. The laser diode used as the light source provides the maximum power of 15 mW on the recording media by pulsed irradiation in the recording stage.
In order to examine whether it is possible to perform high-speed recording, recording experiments were conducted under a linear velocity of 11.2 m/s or 22.4 m/s by varying the spindle rotating speed of the evaluating apparatus. The recording was performed by irradiation with a laser beam modulated into a simple pulse train.
The optical recording media of Comparative Example 1 required a write power of 5.5 mW for saturation of CNR. In contrast, the optical recording media of Example required a low write power of 3.5 mW for saturation of CNR. Thus, when recording was performed with rotating the conventional optical recording media at a high linear velocity, a high level of write power is required for providing a sufficient CNR. Incidentally, it was found that even the optical recording media of Comparative Example 1 could provide CNR of 52 dB with a write power of 3.5 mW under a linear velocity of 11.2 m/s, which shows that a low linear velocity permits improving sensitivity. Comparison between the both cases clearly supports that the structure of the optical recording media according to the present Example is highly effective in the case where an operation at a high linear velocity is required for high-speed recording.
As is apparent from comparison with
Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2004-287391 | Sep 2004 | JP | national |