The Stability of Te and Te-Alloy Films for Optical Data Storage

Thin Te films(5-30nm) are the most widely studied media for optical data storage due to their excellent laser writing characteristics. However, the archival life time of Te films still remains an important issue. We reported1 previously that the degradation resistance of thin Te films can be significantly improved by adjusting the deposition conditions and by a post thermal annealing step. Since information is stored in ~1μm size holes in optical recording, degradation studies based on measurements over a large area(e.g., 1cm2) can not be expected to provide complete archival life time data if degradation occurs within 1μm2 area. To this end, degradation studies have to be carried out microscopically. We have been studying both the macro- and micro-corrosion of Te and Te-alloy films. Some results of these studies are reported here.