Abstract: There is provided a dielectric material containing no sulfur (S), and there is provided an information recording medium that affords high signal quality and excellent recording sensitivity and repeated rewrite characteristics, even though no interface layer is provided between a reflective layer and a dielectric layer. To this end, the present invention is an information recording medium that is equipped with at least a recording layer and undergoes phase change when the recording layer is irradiated with a laser beam or when current is applied, comprising an oxide-fluoride dielectric layer that includes indium (In), an element M1 (where M1 is at least one element selected from among Zr, Hf, Y, Ti, Nb, Ta, Cr, Ga, and Si), oxygen (O), an element M2 (where M2 is at least one element selected from among La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Yb, Mg, Ca, and Sr), and fluorine (F).

Abstract: An information recording medium ensuring high recording and erase function and excellent archival characteristic at a high linear velocity and over a wide range of linear velocities is provided. Such a medium is obtained by constructing a recording layer which has a composition that can generate phase change as a whole, of a first through an M-th constituent layers (wherein M is an integer of 2 or greater) which are stacked in a thickness direction, such that elemental compositions of contiguous an m-th constituent layer and a (m+1)th constituent layer are different from each other (wherein m is an integer and satisfies 1?m?M) assuming that the constituent layer located at an m-th position from a laser light incident side is the m-th constituent layer. In this information recording medium, at least one m-th constituent layer constituting the recording layer preferably includes at least one element selected from Te, Bi, Sb, Ge, In, Ga, Al, Sn, Pb, Se and Si.

Abstract: An information recording medium (1) of the present invention is an information recording medium allowing information to be recorded thereon by irradiation with a laser beam or by application of electrical energy. The information recording medium (1) includes a recording layer (15) capable of undergoing a phase change by the irradiation with the laser beam or by the application of the electrical energy. The recording layer (15) contains Sb, Te, Ge, and C, and a content of Te in the recording layer (15) is at least 8 atom % but not more than 25 atom %.

Abstract: According to the present invention, a recording film is partially initialized using a first light beam (A) having a wavelength for initialization, focus adjustment is performed using a second light beam (B) having a wavelength corresponding to a wavelength for recording and reproducing information on and from an information recording medium, and then the recording film is initialized using the first light beam (A), thereby it is possible to securely initialize recording films of all information layers of a multilayer information recording medium.

Abstract: The information recording medium (100) of the present invention includes: an information layer (110) including a recording layer (115) capable of changing its phase containing at least one selected from Ge—Te, Sb—Te and Ge—Sb, and two or more dielectric layers (117, 118) disposed on the optical beam incident side with respect to the recording layer (115); and a transparent layer (102) disposed on the optical beam incident side with respect to the information layer (110) adjacent to the information layer, made of a transparent material with respect to the optical beam, and having a refractive index n of 1.75 or more.

Abstract: An information recording medium (100) of the present invention is an information recording medium that allows information to be recorded thereon by being irradiated with an optical beam or by being applied with electrical energy, and includes at least a recording layer (115) whose phase can change. The recording layer (115) contains antimony (Sb), carbon (C), and a light element (L) having an atomic weight of less than 33. The light element (L) preferably is at least one element selected from B, N, O, Mg, Al, and S. For example, the recording layer (115) may be composed of a material represented by a composition Sb100-x-yCxLy, where the subscripts 100-x-y, x, and y denote composition ratios of Sb, C, and the L in atomic percentage, respectively, and x and y satisfy x+y?50.

Abstract: In each of at least two information layers (1, 2) which constitute a information recording medium having a plurality of information layers on its one side, the compositions of the recording layer (7) and the dielectric layers (6, 8) adjacent to the recording layer (7) in one information layer (1) are common to the compositions of the corresponding layers (12, 11, 13) in the other information layer, so that the recording layers (7, 12) and the dielectric layers (6, 11) and (8, 13) in the two information layers (1, 2) can be formed in common sputtering firm-forming chambers without the replacement of targets, which makes it possible to produce a multi-layer single-sided recording medium with a decreased time loss in the production.

Abstract: An optical information recording medium (9) of the present invention is an optical information recording medium including: N information layers, where N is a natural number of 2 or more; and an intermediate layer for separating the N information layers optically from each other. With the N information layers being referred to as a first information layer (10) to an N-th information layer (7) sequentially from an optical beam incident side, a first information layer (10) corresponding to an L-th information layer included in the N information layers includes a recording layer (104) on which information can be recorded by irradiation with an optical beam, a reflective layer (108), and a transmittance adjusting layer (109) in this order from the optical beam incident side, where L is an at least one natural number that satisfies 1?L?N?1. The transmittance adjusting layer (109) contains tungsten (W) and oxygen (O).

Abstract: In an information recording medium on and from which information is recorded and reproduced by applying light or electric energy, a recording layer which generates reversible phase change is formed so as to include a material containing Ge, Bi, Te and an element “M” which material is expressed with (GeTe)x[(M2Te3)y(Bi2Te3)1-y]100-x (mol %) wherein “M” represents at least one element selected from Al, Ga and In, and “x” and “y” satisfy 80?x<100 and 0<y?0.9, whereby the medium is obtained which ensures a high erasability and an excellent archival characteristic at a high linear velocity and in a wide range of linear velocities.

Abstract: An information recording medium with high recording sensitivity and superior repeat overwriting capability. The information recording medium (15) comprising at least recording layer (104) recording and/or reproducing information through irradiation with a laser beam or application of an electric current, and second dielectric layer (106) on substrate (14), wherein the second dielectric layer (106) comprises M1 (provided that M1 is at least one element selected from Sc, Y, La, Gd, Dy and Yb) and O.

Abstract: An information recording medium is provided that has high recording sensitivity and high erasability, even when a recording layer thereof is as thin as about 3 nm. An information recording medium 15 on which information can be recorded by applying light or electrical energy has at least a recording layer 104 that undergoes phase change, while the recording layer 104 contains at least one element selected from among Zn, Si and C, and Sb in total proportion of 85 atomic % or more and has composition preferably represented by the formula Sb100-a1M1a (atomic %) (wherein M1 represents at least one element selected from among Zn, Si and C, and al is a proportion in term of atomic % that satisfies a relationship of 0<a1?50).

Abstract: An optical information recording medium of the present invention includes at least a recording layer (4) that allows information to be recorded thereon and/or reproduced therefrom by being irradiated with a laser beam, and a transmittance adjusting layer (7) in this order from an incident side of the laser beam (30). In the optical information recording medium of the present invention, the transmittance adjusting layer (7) contains Bi, Ti, and O and with a composition of Bi, Ti, and O contained in the transmittance adjusting layer (7) being denoted as BixTiyOz, in atomic number ratio, x, y, and z satisfy 0.07?x?0.35, 0.07?y?0.28, 0.56?z?0.70, and x+y+z=1. Or the transmittance adjusting layer (7) contains Bi2O3 and TiO2, and with a composition of Bi2O3 and TiO2 contained in the transmittance adjusting layer (7) being denoted as (Bi2O3)?(TiO2)?, in molar ratio, ? and ? satisfy 0.2???0.7, 0.3???0.

Abstract: An information recording medium of the present invention includes a recording layer whose phase changes by irradiation with a laser beam or application of current. The recording layer contains, as its main component, a composite composed of Ge and Sb that are essential components, and Te that is an optional component. The composite has a composition within a region enclosed by: point (a) (35, 65, 0), point (b) (36.9, 60, 3.1), point (c) (3.2, 60, 36.8), and point (d) (5, 95, 0) in terms of a coordinate (Ge, Sb, Te)=(x, y, z) on the triangular coordinate shown in FIG. 1, where point (b) corresponds to a point at Sb=60 on Ge60Te40—Ge35Sb65, point (c) corresponds to a point at Sb=60 on Te—Ge5Sb95, and the region includes lines extending between point (a) and point (b), point (b) and point (c), point (c) and point (d), and point (d) and point (a).

Abstract: The present invention provides an information recording medium with high reliability and excellent repeated rewriting performance even when no interface layer is formed and a method for manufacturing the same. Accordingly, the information recording medium for carrying out recording and/or reproducing by light irradiation or electric energy application has a material layer containing at least one element selected from a group GM consisting of Sn and Ga, at least one element selected from a group GL consisting of Ta and Y, and oxygen.

Abstract: The information recording medium of the present invention comprises at least one of the following oxide-based material layers: (I) an oxide-based material layer containing Zr, at least one element selected from the group GL1 consisting of La, Ga and In, and oxygen (O); (II) an oxide-based material layer containing M1 (where M1 is a mixture of Zr and Hf, or Hf), at least one element selected from the group GL2 consisting of La, Ce, Al, Ga, In, Mg and Y, and O; (III) an oxide-based material layer containing at least one element selected from the group GM2 consisting of Zr and Hf, at least one element selected from the group GL2, Si, and O; and (IV) an oxide-based material layer containing at least one element selected from the group GM2, at least one element selected from the group GL2, Cr, and O. This oxide-based material layer can be used, for example, as a dielectric layer.

Abstract: The information recording medium of the present invention comprises at least one of the following oxide-based material layers: (I) an oxide-based material layer containing Zr, at least one element selected from the group GL1 consisting of La, Ga and In, and oxygen (O); (II) an oxide-based material layer containing M1 (where M1 is a mixture of Zr and Hf, or Ht), at least one element selected from the group GL2 consisting of La, Ce, Al, Ga, In, Mg and Y, and O; (III) an oxide-based material layer containing at least one element selected from the group GM2 consisting of Zr and Hf, at least one element selected from the group GL2, Si, and O; and (IV) an oxide-based material layer containing at least one element selected from the group GM2, at least one element selected from the group GL2, Cr, and O. This oxide-based material layer can be used, for example, as a dielectric layer.

Abstract: An information recording medium, 15 capable of recording information by irradiation of light or applying electrical energy, wherein at least one of first and second dielectric layers 102, 106, first interface layer and counter-incident side interface layer 103, 105 is formed from a Si—In—Zr/Hf—O-based material containing at least Si, In, M1 (M1 represents at least one element selected from among Zr and Hf) and oxygen (O), with Si content being 1 atomic % or more. This medium has high recording sensitivity when information is recorded thereon, high overwrite cycle-ability and high signal intensity.

Abstract: An information recording medium ensuring high recording and erase function and excellent archival characteristic at a high linear velocity and over a wide range of linear velocities is provided. Such a medium is obtained by constructing a recording layer which has a composition that can generate phase change as a whole, of a first through an M-th constituent layers (wherein M is an integer of 2 or greater) which are stacked in a thickness direction, such that elemental compositions of contiguous an m-th constituent layer and a (m+1)th constituent layer are different from each other (wherein m is an integer and satisfies 1?m?M) assuming that the constituent layer located at an m-th position from a laser light incident side is the m-th constituent layer. In this information recording medium, at least one m-th constituent layer constituting the recording layer preferably includes at least one element selected from Te, Bi, Sb, Ge, In, Ga, Al, Sn, Pb, Se and Si.

Abstract: An information recording medium of the present invention includes N information layers on a substrate (1), where N is an integer of 2 or more. Information is recorded/reproduced by irradiating each of the information layers (11, 12) with a laser beam (4). When the N information layers are referred to as a first information layer to an N-th information layer sequentially from the opposite side to a laser beam incident side, the L-th information layer included in the N information layers includes at least a recording layer (135) capable of undergoing a phase change through laser beam irradiation, a reflective layer (132), and a transmittance adjusting layer (131) in this order from the laser beam incident side, where L is an integer satisfying 2?L?N. The transmittance adjusting layer (131) contains Nb, oxygen (O), and at least one element M selected from Ti, Zr, Hf, Y, Cr, Zn, Ga, Co, Bi, In, Ta, and Ce. In the transmittance adjusting layer (131), the content of Nb is at least 2.9 atom %.

Abstract: To provide an optical information recording medium having an information layer of excellent transmittance and signal intensity, an optical information recording medium 22 includes at least one information layer. The information layer includes a recording layer on which information can be recorded and/or from which information can be reproduced by the irradiation of a laser beam 11, and a Ce containing layer containing Ce and O.