Investigations of Sputtered Silver Oxide Deposits for the SUPER–RENS High Density Optical Data Storage Application

2001 ◽  
Vol 674 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothea Büchel ◽  
Christophe Mihalcea ◽  
Toshio Fukaya ◽  
Nobufumi Atoda ◽  
Junji Tominaga

ABSTRACTThin silver oxide films used as mask layers in super-Resolution Nearfield Structure (super-RENS) disks for high density optical data storage were reactively sputter-deposited and their composition was determined by spectroscopic means. We found that the stoichiometry of the films changed with the oxygen content in the sputtering gas atmosphere. With a stepwise increase in the percentage of O2 from 0 - 100%, the corresponding layers consist of Ag, mixtures of Ag and Ag2O, Ag2O, mixtures of Ag2O and AgO and AgO. Laser activation of such oxidic phase containing deposits results in the decomposition of the material and excitation of strong local plasmons in the remaining silver clusters. This was confirmed by acquiring surface enhanced Raman spectra (SERS) of benzoic acid (BA), copper phthalocyanine (CP) and internal carbon impurities on silver oxide substrates. From this data, we conclude that the sub-wavelength resolution obtained in super-RENS disks is mediated by local surface plasmons on small silver particles forming in the mask layer.

2002 ◽  
Vol 728 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junji Tominaga ◽  
Dorothea Büchel ◽  
Christophe Mihalcea ◽  
Takayuki Shima ◽  
Toshio Fukaya

AbstractRF-magnetron sputtered thin films of silver oxide (AgOx) were recently applied to ultra-high density optical data storage. It has been elucidated that the AgOx film sandwiched by protection layers shows very attractive characteristics in strong light-scattering, local plasmon generation and super-resolution by focussing a laser beam on it. Especially, the combination with an active recording film (optical phase change or magneto-optical) used in the currently recordable optical disks improves the storage density and overcomes the diffraction limit. In this paper, we describe the basic characteristics of nano-scale light scattering centers generated in the AgOx films and the interaction with ultra-high density recorded mark patterns in a near-field region. In addition, we provide the structural transition of the AgOx film by thermal and laser annealing treatment.


2003 ◽  
Vol 42 (Part 1, No. 8) ◽  
pp. 5113-5116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liqun Sun ◽  
Jia Wang ◽  
Enyao Zhang ◽  
Qian Tian

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