Abstract: An optical information recording medium includes a substrate with guide grooves thereon, a recording layer provided on the substrate, including a recording material of which phase is reversibly changeable from a stable state to a semistable state and vice versa, a heat-resistant dielectric protective layer provided on the recording layer, including a protective material which includes Zn, Si, S and O, and a light reflection and heat dissipation layer provided on the heat-resistant dielectric protective layer.

Abstract: A multi-layered optical disc having superior recording/reproducing characteristics, in which the recording density in three-dimensional direction can be increased to increase the recording capacity, and its manufacturing method. A multi-layered optical disc 1 has a light reflecting layer 3, a second information recording layer 4, a transparent layer 5, a first information recording layer 6 and a light-transmitting layer 7 sequentially formed on a major surface 2a of its substrate 2. The laser light is illuminated from the light-transmitting layer 7 of the multi-layered optical disc 1 to record and/or reproduce information signals.

Abstract: A phase-change optical disc has a recording layer formed from a phase-change material switchable between a crystalline state and an amorphous state. The recording layer is illuminated signal-wise by a light is focused onto the recording layer to change the phase thereof from crystalline to amorphous, to thereby write an information signal onto the recording layer. The phase-change material contains a GeSbTe alloy. The recording layer is formed by sputtering in an Ar gas atmosphere containing at least either N2 or O2 gas or both. The optical recording medium exhibits improved durability after repeated recording and maintains a stable and good write/read characteristic even after repeated cycles of signal recording.

Abstract: A phase-changing optical disk solving the problem of difference in recording sensitivity between the land and groove without complexing configuration of the recording device or optical disk production scheme. The present invention provides a phase-changing optical disk including a substrate 11, provided with guiding grooves 17 to form the lands and grooves as the recording tracks, which are laminated with a first dielectric layer 12, second dielectric layer 13, recording layer 14, third dielectric layer 15 and reflection layer 16 in this order, wherein the material for the first dielectric layer 12 has a higher thermal conductivity than that for the second dielectric layer 13, and thickness of the second dielectric layer 13 is smaller than depth ds of the guiding groove 17.

Abstract: A recording medium comprising a hydrophilic film formed on a substrate, recording domains formed directly on the hydrophilic film so as to form a predetermined pattern, each recording domain being made of an organic dye molecule and having a size of 50 nm or less, and an isolation region surrounding the recording domains, the isolation region being made of an organic molecular film.

Abstract: An optical recording medium having sufficient repetition recording durability and its manufacturing method. A first dielectric layer 2 is layered on a major surface 1a of a substrate 1, and a recording layer 5, made up of two layers, namely a first thin film 3 and a second thin film 4 having different crystallization start temperatures, is formed on the first dielectric layer 2. A second dielectric layer 6, a reflective layer 7 and a protective layer 8 are then sequentially formed. One of the first thin film 3 or the second thin film 4 preferably contains nitrogen or oxygen. It is more desirable that the first thin film 3 lying towards the substrate 1 contains nitrogen or oxygen. The difference between the crystallization start temperature of the first thin film 3 and that of the second thin film 4 be 20° C. or more. It is more desirable that the crystallization start temperature of the first thin film 3 lying towards the substrate 1 be higher by 20° C. or more than that of the second thin film 4.

Abstract: An optical recording medium of phase change type is provided. In this medium, cross erase is sufficiently suppressed and favorable recording/reproducing properties are realized in high density recording, and in particular, when the track pitch is less than 0.7 &mgr;m. The medium comprises a substrate, and a first dielectric layer, a recording layer of phase change type, a second dielectric layer, and a reflective layer disposed on the substrate in this order, and the recording layer has a crystallization temperature of at least 160° C., and the second dielectric layer has a thermal conductivity higher than that of the first dielectric layer.

Abstract: A rewritable single-sided double layer optical information medium having a first recording stack with a phase change recording layer sandwiched between two dielectric layers. The recording stack is sufficiently transmissive to ensure proper reading/writing of the second recording stack. For this purpose, the recording stack includes a thin metal layer and a further dielectric layer. The laser beam can be focused on the first recording stack or on the second recording stack, thus doubling the storage capacity of the recording medium.

Abstract: In a phase change-type optical recording medium of absorption coefficient control structure used by land/groove recording system, difference in reproduction characteristics between the land and the groove is minimized while ensuring sufficient output of the tracking signal. In the optical recording medium of the present invention, light absorption coefficient at the wavelength of said recording/reproducing beam is such that: Ac/Aa≧0.8 when light absorption coefficient in crystalline region is Ac and light absorption coefficient in amorphous region is Aa; relation between groove width WG and land width WL is such that: 0.97≦2WG/(WL+WG)<1.

Abstract: An optical disk comprising a recording layer and a super-resolution film disposed on the reproduction-beam incident side of the recording layer, wherein the super-resolution film is formed of a fine particle-dispersed film comprising a matrix and semiconductor fine particles dispersed in the matrix or formed of a semiconductor continuous film, and wherein content of a matrix material or a contamination mixed in the semiconductor fine particles or the semiconductor continuous film is not more than 20 at %.

Abstract: An optical information recording medium includes a first dielectric protective layer, a recording layer provided on the first dielectric protective layer, including a material represented by a chemical formula of Ag&agr;In&bgr;Sb&ggr;Te&dgr;, wherein &agr;, &bgr;, &ggr; and &dgr; respectively represent an atomic percent of Ag, an atomic percent of In, an atomic percent of Sb, and an atomic percent of Te, and satisfy the conditions of: 1≦&agr;<10, 1<&bgr;≦20, 35≦&ggr;≦70, 20≦&dgr;≦35, &agr;+&bgr;+&ggr;+&dgr;=100, 4&bgr;−&dgr;≦0, &ggr;−2&dgr;≧0, and &ggr;−8&agr;≧0, a second dielectric protective layer provided on the recording layer, and a light reflection and heat dissipation layer provided on the second dielectric protective layer.

Abstract: An optical information recording medium comprising a substrate, a recording layer, a protective layer containing a sulfur atom, an intermediate layer in contact with the protective layer and a reflective layer containing silver as the main component in contact with the intermediate layer, wherein the intermediate layer comprises an element which does not form a compound with silver, the element contained in the intermediate layer having a solid solubility of at most 5 atomic % to silver and silver having a solid solubility of at most 5 atomic % to the element contained in the intermediate layer, on the side in contact with the reflective layer, and the intermediate layer comprises an element less reactive to sulfur or its sulfide comprises chemically stable elements, on the side in contact with the protective layer.

Abstract: There is disclosed a recordable optical element that has a substrate and on the surface of the substrate, a recording layer and a light reflecting layer. The recording layer has a material with the formula TeaGebCcHdOe wherein a, b, c, d, and e are atomic percents and (c+d)>40, d>10, a>5, b>5, and e≧0 such that a+b+c+d+e=100; and the reflecting layer and the recording layer being selected such that the element Rmax or Rmin (element reflectivity) is about or greater than 70% at about 780 nm.

Abstract: Formation of small record marks at high shape and dimensional precision is enabled in an optical recording medium of phase change type adapted for formation of small record marks. Thermal stability of such small record marks with high shape and dimensional precision is also improved to provide a highly reliable optical recording medium of phase change type. The optical recording medium of the invention has a recording layer of phase change type, and record marks with minimum length of up to 350 nm are formed in the recording layer. The recording layer contains Ag, In, Sb and Te as its main components. Also provided is an optical recording medium wherein the recording layer also contains Ge and/or N as its sub-component.