Hole formation in tellurium alloy films during optical recording
- 1 November 1983
- journal article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Journal of Applied Physics
- Vol. 54 (11) , 6175-6182
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.331931
Abstract
The material transport phenomena of hole machining, which occur during optical recording, are described for metal films such as elemental tellurium and its alloys. It is shown that the temperature gradient resulting from a focused laser beam creates a minimum in the surface tension at the hottest point of the molten spot. Consequently, a shear stress pulls material from the center of the melt towards the edge, forming a rim. It is demonstrated that the film is thin enough to have all material pulled away, thereby forming a hole and that this occurs in a time frame of about 10–50 ns. Also the cross sectional shape of the rim is modeled. Experimental information corroborating this model is obtained by investigating dropouts, which are created by recording close to the threshold. (A dropout is defined as a missing hole; i.e., it is intended to machine a hole but it fails to open.) The surface profile of dropouts indicates that material has retracted from the center to form a rim. Also, it is shown that dropouts are indeed frozen-in states of the hole opening process. Experimental data on cross sections of rims around fully opened holes and around optical dropouts support the model, showing rounded rims for the first case and very steep edges surrounding dropouts.This publication has 17 references indexed in Scilit:
- Digital Optical Recorders At 5 Mbit/S Data RateOptical Engineering, 1982
- High-sensitivity silicide films for optical recordingJournal of Applied Physics, 1982
- Textured germanium optical storage mediumApplied Physics Letters, 1982
- Reversible optical recording in trilayer structuresApplied Physics Letters, 1981
- Bit oriented optical storage with thin tellurium filmsJournal of Vacuum Science and Technology, 1981
- Thermomagnetic switching in a GdFeBi-photoconductor sandwichJournal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, 1980
- Communications: Ten billion bits on a disk: High-power laser diodes and pregrooved disks enable low-cost digital data recording and retrievalIEEE Spectrum, 1979
- Single Te films and Te trilayers for optical recordingApplied Physics Letters, 1979
- Memories: An optical disk replaces 25 mag tapes: This 30-cm disk features a long-life tellurium film upon which data is impressed by laserIEEE Spectrum, 1979
- Antireflection structures for optical recordingIEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, 1978