Optical information recording medium

• US 5,191,565 A
• Filed: 06/10/1991
• Issued: 03/02/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/1989
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Uchida, Masami, Furukawa, Shigeaki, Inoue, Kazuo, Ohta, Takeo, Yoshioka, Kazumi
• Primary Examiner(s): LaRoche, Eugene R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tan
• Application Number:
  US07/713,008
• Time in Patent Office: 631 Days
• Field of Search: 369/282, 369/283, 369/284, 369/288, 369/275.1, 369/275.2, 369/275.3, 369/275.4
• US Class Current: 369/284
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2007/24312 group 14 elements (e.g. Si, Ge, Sn)
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2007/24314 group 15 elements (e.g. Sb, Bi)
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2007/24316 group 16 elements (i.e. chalcogenides, Se, Te)
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2007/25706 containing transition metal elements (Zn, Fe, Co, Ni, Pt)
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2007/2571 containing group 14 elements except carbon (Si, Ge, Sn, Pb)
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2007/25715 containing oxygen
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2007/25716 containing sulfur
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 7/241 characterised by the selection of the material
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 7/2433 Metals or elements of Groups 13, 14, 15 or 16 of the Periodic Table, e.g. B, Si, Ge, As, Sb, Bi, Se or Te
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 7/2533 comprising resins
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 7/2534 polycarbonates [PC]
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 7/254 of protective topcoat layers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 7/256 of layers improving adhesion between layers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 7/2585 based on aluminium
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 7/259 based on silver
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 7/2595 based on gold

Abstract

Disclosed is an optical information recording medium which comprises an active layer which undergoes phase change upon irradiation with light and protective layers formed on both the sides of the active layer, wherein the thermal capacity of the active layer which is a heat source is decreased, a reflection layer of high thermal conductivity is provided on the protective layer to cause increase of the coefficient of lines expansion of the protective layer with increase in distance from the active layer or the thickness of each layer is specified to make nearly the constant maximum temperature by irradiated light against a change in the thickness of the active layer.

Claims

1. An optical information recording medium, comprising an active layer which undergoes a base change upon irradiation with light;

and protective layers which are formed on both sides of the active layer, which have a higher melting point than that of the active layer and which show no absorption at the wavelength of the irradiated light, wherein the thermal capacity Ma of the active layer and the thermal capacity Md₁ of the protective layer on the side to be irradiated with light have the following relationship;

Ma≦

Md₁ /3, and said active layer has a characteristic such that its minimum cyrstallization time is 90 ns or less.

2. An optical information recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the material of the active layer is mainly composed of GeTeSb type material.

3. An optical information recording medium, comprising an active layer which undergoes a phase change upon irradiation with light;

protective layers which are formed on both sides of the active layer, which have a higher melting point than that of the active layer and which show no absorption at the wavelength of the irradiated light; and

a reflection layer which is formed on the one of said protective layers located on the side of the active layer opposite the side to be irradiated with light and which reflects back the light to the active layer, said active layer having a characteristics such that its minimum crystallization time is 90 ns or less, said one of said protective layers disposed on the side of the active layer opposite the side to be irradiated with light having a thickness of 100 nm or less, said reflection layer having a thickness of 80 nm or more, and said reflection layer having a thermal conductivity of 100 W/m·

k or more.

4. An optical information recording medium according to claim 3, wherein the material of the reflection layer comprises at least one element selected from the group consisting of Ag, Au, Al, Cu, and W.

5. An optical information recording medium according to claim 3, wherein the protective layer formed on the active layer on the side opposite the side to be irradiated with light has a thickness of 100 nm or less.

6. An optical information recording medium, comprising an active layer which undergoes a phase change upon irradiation with light;

and protective layers which are formed on both sides of the active layer, which have a higher melting point than that of the active layer and which show no absorption at the wavelength of the irradiated light, wherein at least the one of the protective layers disposed on the side of said active layer to be irradiated with light is of a bi-layer structure and a coefficient of linear expansion of a layer of the bi-layer positioned adjacent the active layer is smaller than that of another layer of the bi-layer structure, and said active layer has a characteristic such that its minimum crystallization time is 90 ns or less.

7. An optical information recording medium according to claim 6, wherein the material of the layer which constitutes the protective layer of a bi-layer structure and which is on the side of that active layer comprises a silicon compound.

8. An optical information recording medium according to claim 6, wherein the layer which constitutes the protective layer of a bi-layer structure and which is on the side of the active layer has a thickness of 10 nm or more.

9. An optical information recording medium, comprising an active layer which undergoes a phase change upon irradiation with light;

and protective layers which are formed on both sides of the active layers, which have a higher melting point than that of the active layer and show no absorption at the wavelength of the irradiated light, wherein said active layer has a characteristic such that its minimum crystallization time is 90 ns or less and at least the one of said protective layers which is formed on the side of said active layer to be irradiated with light has a coefficient of linear expansion which varies such that it is lowest closest to the active layer and continuously increases with increase in distance from the active layer.

10. An optical information recording medium according to claim 9, wherein the material of the protective layer comprises a mixture of SiO₂ and at least one member selected from the group consisting of ZnS, ZnSe and ZnTe.

11. An optical information recording medium, comprising an active layer which undergoes a phase change upon irradiation with light;

protective layers which are formed on both sides of the active layer, which have a higher melting point than that of the active layer and which show no absorption at the wavelength of the irradiated light, wherein said active layer has a characteristic such that its minimum crystallization time is 90 ns or less; and

a reflection layer which is formed on the one of said protective layers disposed on the side of said active layer opposite the side to be irradiated with light and which reflects back the light to the active layer, the thickness of the other one of said protective layers disposed on the side of said active layer to be irradiated with light being 20λ

/64n_d1 to 27λ

/64n_d1 and the thickness of said one of said protective layers disposed on the side of said active layer opposite to the side to be irradiated with light being λ

/64n_d2 to 5λ

/64n_d2, wherein λ

represents the wavelength of the irradiated light, n_d1 represents the refractive index of said other one of said protective layers and n_d2 represents the refractive index of said one of said protective layers.

12. An optical information recording medium according to claim 11, wherein the active layer has a thickness of 18-25 nm.

13. An optical information recording medium according to claim 11, wherein the reflection layer has a thickness of 80 nm or more.

14. An optical information recording medium according to claim 11, wherein the material of the active layer is mainly composed of a GeTeSb type material.