JP2002133732A - Optical information recording medium and manufacturing method for optical information recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical information recording medium and a manufacturing method for the optical information recording medium with easy initialization or needing no initialization by crystallizing a recording layer or providing it in a mixed state of a crystal state and an amorphous state at a manufacturing stage. SOLUTION: A substrate of this optical information recording medium carried in from a substrate carrying in/out chamber of an optical information recording medium manufacturing device 1 is held by a substrate holder 10, it is conveyed sequentially through underlying protective layer forming chambers 3 and 4, a dry etching chamber 5, a recording layer forming chamber 6, an overlying protective layer forming chamber 7, and reflective layer forming chambers 8 and 9 using a telescopic arm 11 and a rotary shaft 12, and an underlying protective layer, the recording layer, an overlying protective layer and a reflective layer are formed on the substrate. The underlying layer formed before the rerecording layer is temporarily formed a predetermined thickness thicker than a desired thickness and then it is removed by dry etching and formed in the desired thickness. Accordingly, the recording layer can be crystallized or provided in the mixed state of the crystal state and the amorphous state at a film forming stage and the optical information recording medium with easy initialization or needing no initialization can be provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an optical information recording medium and a method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium, and more particularly, to an optical information recording medium using a phase change material and a method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An optical information recording medium having a recording layer made of a phase-change material is irradiated with a laser beam focused on a submicron-order light spot for a short period of time. When heated to a temperature, a change in the state of atomic bonding occurs in the irradiated part. When the temperature rises above the crystallization temperature, the irradiated part changes to a crystalline state, and when the temperature rises above the melting point, it becomes amorphous.

[0003] Therefore, an optical information recording medium having a recording layer made of a phase-change material has such an amorphous phase,
Either the crystal phase is recorded or erased (unrecorded)
By setting, reversible information recording and erasing can be performed, and since such a recording layer has different optical characteristics between the amorphous phase and the crystalline phase, the difference in the characteristics is , The signal can be detected (reproduced). Optical information recording media that use the phase change of the recording layer for information recording use not only a phase change between an amorphous phase and a crystalline phase but also a phase change between a high temperature phase and a low temperature phase in a crystalline state. There is something to do. In this case, the high-temperature phase is an amorphous phase, and the low-temperature phase is a crystalline phase.
It can be handled in the same manner as in the case of the amorphous phase and the crystalline phase.

In an optical information recording medium using a phase change between an amorphous phase and a crystalline phase of a recording layer, the recording direction is usually a phase change from a crystalline phase to an amorphous phase. It is necessary to perform a so-called initialization in which the recording layer is converted to a crystalline state in advance.

Conventionally, as a method of the initialization, a method of crystallizing the recording layer of the optical information recording medium by sequentially irradiating the recording layer of the optical information recording medium with a high output laser beam has been generally adopted. However, this initialization method has a problem that the initialization itself takes a long time and productivity is poor.

Therefore, there has been proposed a method of initializing the recording layer in a short time by crystallizing the recording layer at a time using a high-power flash lamp (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-261).
553).

However, in the initialization method using a flash lamp, it is more difficult to completely crystallize the recording layer than in the initialization method using a laser beam. It is experimentally known that it is very difficult to provide the energy required to make the state of formation uniform.

Therefore, conventionally, a flash light is applied to an optical information recording medium having a recording thin film layer on which a phase change between crystal and amorphous occurs on a substrate, and a predetermined portion of the recording thin film is collectively initialized. A method of converting the optical information recording medium to a predetermined state, a step of supporting the optical information recording medium at a predetermined position, a step of charging an electric energy supplied to a flash light source to a storage circuit unit, and a step of: A step of starting light emission by applying a trigger, and after continuing the light emission for a predetermined time, actuating a cut-off circuit unit connected to the flash light source, forcibly terminating the discharge instantaneously and reducing the light emission intensity. There has been proposed a method of initializing an optical information recording medium having a step of lowering to substantially zero level (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-153343).

In other words, this method for initializing an optical information recording medium attempts to precisely and precisely control the output of the flash light source so that the crystallization state of the recording layer is uniform and complete.

[0010]

However, in the initialization method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-153343, a large-scale apparatus is required to uniformly crystallize the recording layer of the optical information recording medium. And when seeking uniformity,
There is a problem that a long time is required for initialization. Furthermore, in the above-mentioned conventional initialization method, when attempting to crystallize in a short time, it is necessary to apply a large amount of energy in a short time, so that the substrate of the optical information recording medium is deformed or the recording layer is broken by cracks. May cause That is, in an optical information recording medium using a substrate as thin as 0.6 mm, such as a DVD, the substrate is significantly deformed, and it is important to initialize the optical information recording medium without causing the substrate to be deformed. Is an important issue.

In addition, the above-mentioned conventional initialization method is premised on including an initialization step of a recording layer in a production process of an optical information recording medium in any method. Requires a huge investment. Further, the increase in the speed is accompanied by deterioration of the mechanical properties of the substrate and the like, so that it is extremely difficult to improve the productivity.

In view of the above, the invention according to claim 1 includes a step of laminating an arbitrary film formed at least before a recording layer whose optical characteristics change reversibly before and after laser beam irradiation. The film is formed once more by a predetermined thickness than the desired thickness, and then removed by dry etching to form the desired thickness. The temperature of the recording layer is set to a high temperature by dry etching, and immediately after the film formation, the recording layer is crystallized or a state where the crystalline state and the amorphous state are mixed. It is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive optical information recording medium with good productivity by omitting the initialization step or shortening the initialization time.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, an arbitrary film is formed once more by a predetermined thickness than a desired thickness.
Since the film is removed and removed by dry etching multiple times, the recording layer is more appropriately crystallized at the film formation stage, or the amorphous state is mixed in the crystalline state. As a state
The object of the present invention is to provide an optical information recording medium that has higher productivity and is more inexpensive by making initialization unnecessary or easy, eliminating the initialization step, and further shortening the initialization time. And

The invention according to claim 3 is generally used in the production of optical information recording media by utilizing sputter etching using Ar gas as dry etching used to remove an arbitrary film. It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical information recording medium with good productivity and low cost by easily performing dry etching using a single-wafer sputtering apparatus.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, since the crystallization promoting layer is formed immediately below the recording layer, the recording layer can be more appropriately crystallized in the film formation stage, or
As a state where the amorphous state is somewhat mixed with the crystalline state, initialization is unnecessary or it is easy to initialize, and the initialization step is omitted, or the initialization time is further shortened, and the productivity is further improved. It is intended to provide an inexpensive optical information recording medium.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, by using a material containing at least Bi as the material of the crystallization promoting layer, the recording layer can be more appropriately crystallized by the crystallization promoting layer at the film formation stage, or As a state where the amorphous state is mixed with the crystalline state to some extent, initialization is unnecessary, or
Initialization is easy, and the initialization process is omitted, or
It is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive optical information recording medium with further improved productivity by further reducing the initialization time.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the recording layer has a metastable Sb ₃ Te phase belonging to the space group Fm3m, so that the recording layer can be more appropriately formed by the crystallization promoting layer in the film formation stage. Crystallization, or as a state where the amorphous state is mixed with the crystalline state somewhat, initialization is unnecessary,
Alternatively, it is easy to initialize, high-density recording is possible, and it has excellent repetitive recording characteristics, and the initialization process is omitted or the initialization time is further shortened to improve productivity. However, it is an object of the present invention to provide a better and less expensive optical information recording medium.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, at least a step of laminating an arbitrary film formed before a recording layer whose optical characteristics change reversibly before and after irradiation with a laser beam is performed. The disk substrate temperature before the formation of the recording layer can be set to an arbitrary value by forming the layer once more by a predetermined thickness than the desired thickness, and then removing the film by dry etching to form the desired thickness. The temperature is set to a high temperature by dry etching, and the recording layer is crystallized in the film formation stage, or the crystal state and the amorphous state are mixed, so that initialization is unnecessary or easy. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium with good productivity and low cost by eliminating the time or shortening the initialization time.

According to the present invention, in forming an arbitrary film, the arbitrary film is formed to be once thicker by a predetermined thickness than a desired film thickness, and then removed by dry etching to obtain a predetermined film. By performing the film formation and removal processing of forming the film to a plurality of times to form a film thickness, in the film formation stage, the recording layer is more appropriately crystallized, or, as a state in which the crystalline state is somewhat mixed with an amorphous state, To provide a method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium with higher productivity and a lower cost by making initialization unnecessary or easy, eliminating the initialization step, or further shortening the initialization time. It is intended to be.

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, a sputter etching using Ar gas is used as a dry etching for removing an arbitrary film, so that it is generally used for manufacturing an optical information recording medium. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing an optical information recording medium with good productivity and low cost by performing dry etching easily by using a single wafer type sputtering apparatus.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, a crystallization promoting layer is formed immediately below the recording layer, and then the recording layer is formed on the crystallization promoting layer. Crystallization more appropriately, or as a state where the amorphous state is mixed somewhat in the crystalline state, initialization is unnecessary,
Alternatively, the initialization is easy, and the initialization process is omitted.
Alternatively, it is another object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium with further improved productivity and a lower cost by further shortening the initialization time.

According to the eleventh aspect of the present invention, by forming the crystallization promoting layer using a material containing at least Bi, the recording layer can be more appropriately crystallized by the crystallization promoting layer in the film formation stage. Or, as a state where the crystalline state is somewhat mixed with the amorphous state, initialization is unnecessary or it is easy to initialize, and the initialization step is omitted, or the initialization time is further shortened, and the productivity is improved. It is an object of the present invention to provide a better and less expensive method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, as a substrate holder for holding a substrate of an optical information recording medium during film formation and etching, at least a surface opposed to the substrate has the same thermal conductivity as the substrate or a thermal conductivity similar thereto. By using a substrate holder made of a material having a high rate, heat radiation from the substrate is prevented, the substrate temperature is kept high, the temperature distribution in the substrate surface is made uniform, and the crystallization of the recording layer is improved. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium capable of further promoting and uniformly crystallizing.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, a substrate made of a polymer material such as polycarbonate resin is used as a substrate, and at least a surface facing the substrate is used as a substrate holder for holding a substrate of an optical information recording medium during film formation and etching. , 0.
By using a substrate holder made of a material having a thermal conductivity of 1 to 1.0 (Kcal / m · hr · ° C.), heat radiation from the substrate can be prevented more efficiently, and the substrate temperature can be reduced. Provided is a method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium capable of maintaining a higher temperature, making the temperature distribution in the plane of the substrate more uniform, further promoting the crystallization of the recording layer, and crystallizing more uniformly. It is intended to be.

[0025]

The optical information recording medium according to the present invention has at least a recording layer whose optical characteristics change reversibly before and after irradiation with a laser beam. In an optical information recording medium on which recording, reproduction, and erasure are performed, in the step of laminating an arbitrary film formed before the recording layer, the arbitrary film is once more than a desired film thickness by a predetermined thickness. The above-mentioned object is achieved by being formed thickly and then being removed by dry etching to form the desired film thickness.

According to the above configuration, at least in the step of laminating an arbitrary film formed before the recording layer whose optical characteristics change reversibly before and after the irradiation of the laser beam, the arbitrary film is temporarily Since the film is formed to be a predetermined thickness thicker than the desired film thickness and then removed by dry etching to form the desired film thickness, the temperature of the disk substrate before forming the recording layer is adjusted to a desired value. By setting to high temperature by etching, immediately after film formation, the recording layer is crystallized, or
As a state in which the crystalline state and the amorphous state are mixed, the initialization is unnecessary or the initialization can be easily performed, and the initialization process can be omitted or the initialization time can be shortened to produce the optical information recording medium. While improving the
The optical information recording medium can be inexpensive.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the optional film is
Once formed thicker by a predetermined thickness than the desired thickness,
Thereafter, the film may be formed by performing a film forming and removing process of being removed by dry etching a plurality of times.

According to the above configuration, an arbitrary film is formed by performing a film forming and removing process a plurality of times, in which an arbitrary film is formed to be once thicker than a desired film thickness by a predetermined thickness, and then removed by dry etching. Therefore, in the film formation stage, the recording layer can be more appropriately crystallized, or as a state in which the amorphous state is mixed somewhat with the crystalline state, it is possible to make initialization unnecessary or easy. In addition, the initialization step can be omitted, or the initialization time can be further shortened, so that the productivity of the optical information recording medium can be further improved, and the optical information recording medium can be made inexpensive.

Further, for example, the dry etching may be sputter etching using Ar gas.

According to the above configuration, since sputter etching using Ar gas is used as dry etching for removing an arbitrary film, it is generally used for manufacturing an optical information recording medium. Dry etching can be easily performed using a single-wafer sputtering apparatus, so that the productivity of the optical information recording medium can be improved, and the optical information recording medium can be made more inexpensive.

Further, for example, the optical information recording medium may have a crystallization promoting layer formed immediately below the recording layer.

According to the above configuration, since the crystallization promoting layer is formed as a layer immediately below the recording layer, the crystallization promoting layer can be formed at the film forming stage.
The recording layer is more appropriately crystallized, or as a state in which the crystalline state is somewhat mixed with the amorphous state, it is not necessary to initialize, or it is possible to easily initialize the recording layer. As a result, the optical information recording medium can be made more inexpensive, and the optical information recording medium can be made inexpensive.

Also, for example, the crystallization promoting layer may be formed of a material containing at least Bi.

According to the above configuration, since a material containing at least Bi is used as the material of the crystallization promoting layer, the recording layer is more appropriately crystallized by the crystallization promoting layer at the film formation stage, or Optical information recording is possible by eliminating the initialization step or shortening the initialization time further by making initialization unnecessary or easy to initialize as a state where the amorphous state is somewhat mixed with the crystalline state. The productivity of the medium can be further improved, and the optical information recording medium can be made inexpensive.

Further, for example, as described in claim 6, the recording layer is formed of a metastable Sb belonging to a space group Fm3m.
_It may have a 3Te phase.

According to the above configuration, the recording layer is formed by the space group Fm
Since the recording layer has a metastable Sb ₃ Te phase belonging to 3 m, the recording layer is more appropriately crystallized by the crystallization promoting layer at the film formation stage, or the amorphous state is mixed with the crystalline state to some extent. Initialization is unnecessary, or initialization can be easily performed, high-density recording can be performed, and excellent repetitive recording characteristics can be achieved. The time required for the optical information recording medium can be further reduced, the productivity can be further improved, and the optical information recording medium can be made inexpensive.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium, comprising at least a recording layer whose optical characteristics change reversibly before and after irradiation with a laser beam. In the method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium in which reproduction and erasing are performed, in the step of laminating an arbitrary film formed before the recording layer, the arbitrary film is temporarily removed by a predetermined thickness from a desired thickness. By forming a thick, then removed by dry etching, by forming the desired thickness,
The above objective has been achieved.

According to the above configuration, at least in the step of laminating an arbitrary film formed before the recording layer whose optical characteristics change reversibly before and after the irradiation of the laser beam, the arbitrary film is temporarily removed. Formed by a predetermined thickness greater than a desired thickness,
After that, the substrate was removed by dry etching to form a desired film thickness.
An arbitrary film is set to a high temperature by dry etching, and the recording layer is crystallized at the film forming stage, or the crystal state and the amorphous state are mixed, so that initialization is unnecessary or easy. It is possible to omit the initialization step or shorten the initialization time,
The productivity of the optical information recording medium can be improved, and the optical information recording medium can be made inexpensive.

In this case, for example, in the method of manufacturing an optical information recording medium according to claim 8, when forming the arbitrary film, the arbitrary film is temporarily set to a predetermined thickness smaller than a desired thickness. The film may be formed to have a thickness equal to the film thickness and then removed by dry etching to form a film having a predetermined thickness.

According to the above configuration, when forming an arbitrary film, the arbitrary film is formed to be once thicker by a predetermined thickness than the desired film thickness, and then removed by dry etching to obtain the predetermined film thickness. Since the film is formed by performing the film formation and removal processes a plurality of times, the recording layer is more appropriately crystallized at the film formation stage, or the crystal state is changed to a state in which the amorphous state is mixed to some extent. It is possible to make initialization unnecessary or easy to initialize, and to omit the initialization process, or to further shorten the initialization time,
The productivity of the optical information recording medium can be further improved, and the optical information recording medium can be made inexpensive.

Further, for example, the dry etching may be sputter etching using Ar gas.

According to the above configuration, since the sputter etching using Ar gas is used as the dry etching used to remove an arbitrary film, it is generally used for manufacturing an optical information recording medium. Dry etching can be easily performed using a single-wafer sputtering apparatus, so that the productivity of the optical information recording medium can be improved, and the optical information recording medium can be made more inexpensive.

Further, for example, in the method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium according to the present invention, after forming a crystallization promoting layer as a layer immediately below the recording layer, the crystallization promoting layer is formed on the crystallization promoting layer. The recording layer may be formed.

According to the above configuration, the crystallization promoting layer is formed immediately below the recording layer, and then the recording layer is formed on the crystallization promoting layer. Crystallization more appropriately, or, as a state in which the amorphous state is mixed with the crystalline state to some extent, it is not necessary to initialize, or it can be easy to initialize, the initialization step is omitted, or the initialization time is reduced. By further shortening the optical information recording medium, the productivity of the optical information recording medium can be further improved, and the optical information recording medium can be made inexpensive.

For example, in the method of manufacturing an optical information recording medium, the crystallization promoting layer may be formed using a material containing at least Bi.

According to the above configuration, since the crystallization promoting layer is formed using a material containing at least Bi, the recording layer can be more appropriately crystallized by the crystallization promoting layer at the film formation stage. Alternatively, as a state in which a crystalline state is somewhat mixed with an amorphous state, initialization can be made unnecessary or easy, so that the initialization step can be omitted or the initialization time can be further shortened, The productivity of the information recording medium can be further improved, and the optical information recording medium can be made inexpensive.

Further, for example, as set forth in claim 12, in the method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium, at least the substrate as a substrate holder for holding the substrate of the optical information recording medium during the film formation and the etching. Alternatively, a substrate holder may be used in which the surface opposite to the substrate is made of a material having the same or similar thermal conductivity as the substrate.

According to the above configuration, as a substrate holder for holding the substrate of the optical information recording medium at the time of film formation and etching, at least the surface facing the substrate has the same or similar thermal conductivity as the substrate. The use of a substrate holder made of the same material prevents heat radiation from the substrate, keeps the substrate temperature at a high temperature, and makes the temperature distribution in the substrate surface uniform, and enables recording. Crystallization of the layer can be further promoted and uniform crystallization can be achieved.

For example, in the method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium, the substrate may be made of a polymer material such as polycarbonate resin, and the optical information recording medium may be formed during the film formation and the etching. As a substrate holder for holding a substrate of a medium, at least a surface facing the substrate has a thickness of 0.1 to 1.0 (Kcal / m · hr ·
(C) may be used as the substrate holder.

According to the above configuration, a polymer material such as a polycarbonate resin is used as the substrate, and at least a surface facing the substrate is used as a substrate holder for holding the substrate of the optical information recording medium during film formation and etching. .1 to
Since a substrate holder made of a material having a thermal conductivity of 1.0 (Kcal / m · hr · ° C.) is used,
By preventing the heat radiation from the substrate more efficiently, the substrate temperature can be kept higher, the temperature distribution in the substrate surface can be made more uniform, and the crystallization of the recording layer can be more improved. The crystallization can be further promoted and the crystallization can be performed more uniformly.

[0051]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the embodiments described below are preferred embodiments of the present invention, and therefore, various technically preferable limitations are added. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the following description. The embodiments are not limited to these embodiments unless otherwise specified.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a first embodiment of an optical information recording medium and a method of manufacturing an optical information recording medium according to the present invention. 3, claim 5, claim 7, claim 9, claim 11 to claim 1
This corresponds to No. 3.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a main part of an optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 to which an optical information recording medium and an optical information recording medium manufacturing method according to a first embodiment of the present invention are applied. The recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 is a sputtering and dry etching apparatus, and includes a substrate loading / unloading chamber 2, a base protective layer film forming chamber 3, a base protective layer film forming chamber 4, a dry etching chamber 5, and a recording layer film forming chamber 6. An upper protective layer film forming chamber 7, a reflective layer film forming chamber 8,
Reflective layer deposition chamber 9, substrate holder 10, telescopic arm 11,
A rotating shaft 12 and the like are provided.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 carries a substrate
Substrate 21 of optical information recording medium 20 carried in from carry-out room 2
2 (a) to 2 (c) are held by a substrate holder 10 attached to the distal end of a telescopic arm 11, and the rotating shaft 1
2 is rotated, and sequentially transferred to the base protective layer film forming chambers 3 and 4, the dry etching chamber 5, the recording layer film forming chamber 6, the upper layer protective layer film forming chamber 7, and the reflective layer film forming chambers 8 and 9. , FIG.
As shown in (c), an undercoat protective layer 22 is formed on a substrate 21.
The optical information recording medium 20 is formed by forming the recording layer 23, the upper protective layer 24, and the reflective layer 25.

That is, the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1
As shown in FIG. 2A, in the underlayer protection layer deposition chamber 3 and the underlayer protection layer deposition chamber 4, the underlayer protection layer 22 having a predetermined thickness Td is formed on the substrate 21 transported and stored. In the dry etching chamber 5, a predetermined thickness (T
Only dT) is removed by sputter etching using Ar.

The method of the dry etching is roughly classified into plasma etching, sputter etching, ion beam etching, and the like.
Any method can be used as long as it can heat the substrate 21 through the substrate. Since a single-wafer sputtering apparatus is generally used for manufacturing an optical information recording medium, a sputter etching using an inert gas, Ar gas, a so-called reverse sputtering method, The manufacturing apparatus 1 can be made inexpensive, and, for example, also serves as the upper protective layer film forming chamber 7 which is a film forming chamber for the upper protective layer 24 of the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 and the dry etching chamber 5. In addition, since the Ar gas is used as the etching gas, no special gas exclusion equipment is required as compared with the case where a corrosive reaction gas is used, and the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 can be further improved. It can be simple and inexpensive.

In the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1, in the recording layer film forming chamber 6, the recording layer 23 is formed on the underlying protective layer 22 whose upper portion has been removed by etching, and the upper layer protective film forming chamber 6 is formed. 7, an upper protective layer 24 is formed on the recording layer 23 formed on the lower protective layer 22.

In the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1, in the reflective layer film forming chamber 8 and the reflective layer film forming chamber 9,
A reflective layer 25 having a predetermined thickness is formed, and the substrate 21 on which the reflective layer 25 is formed is taken out of the reflective layer deposition chamber 9 by contracting the telescopic arm 11.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described. The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment
The substrate 21 of the optical information recording medium 20 is transferred via the unloading chamber 2 to the substrate holder 10 attached to the tip of the telescopic arm 11.
The substrate 21 is sequentially transported to the positions of the base protection layer film forming chamber 3 and the base protection layer film formation chamber 4 by rotating the rotating shaft 12, and the telescopic arm 11 is extended to thereby extend the base protection layer film formation chamber. 3 and the base protective layer deposition chamber 4.

The substrate 21 is, for example, a polycarbonate substrate having a diameter of 120 mm and a thickness of 0.6 mm formed by injection molding.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 forms the undercoat protective layer 22 on the substrate 21 in the undercoat protective layer deposition chamber 3 and undercoat protective layer deposition chamber 4 as shown in FIG. The base protective layer 22 is formed to a thickness of 120 nm using, for example, ZnS / SiO ₂ as a material.

In the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1, the substrate 21 on which the base protective layer 22 is formed is taken out of the base protective layer film forming chamber 4 by contracting the telescopic arm 11, and the substrate 21 is held by the rotating shaft 12. The substrate holder 10 is rotated to the position of the dry etching chamber 5, the telescopic arm 11 is extended, and the substrate 21 held by the substrate holder 10 is stored in the dry etching chamber 5.

In the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1, in the dry etching chamber 5, as shown in FIG. 2B, the upper part of the underlayer protective layer 22 having a thickness Td is reduced by a predetermined thickness (Td−T).
The underlayer protection layer 22 is removed to a thickness T by sputtering. For example, when the film thickness Td of the base protective layer 22 is 120 nm, the predetermined thickness (Td−
T) is removed by sputter etching by 20 nm, and the film thickness T of the base protective layer 22 is set to 100 nm.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 mounts the substrate 21 on which the base protective layer 22 has been etched
The substrate holder 10 holding the substrate 21 was rotated by the rotating shaft 12 to the position of the recording layer film forming chamber 6, and the telescopic arm 11 was extended and held by the substrate holder 10. The substrate 21 is housed in the recording layer deposition chamber 6.

In the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 2C, the recording layer 23 is formed on the underlayer protective layer 22 whose upper portion has been removed by etching in the recording layer film forming chamber 6. Film. The recording layer 23 is made of, for example, AgIn
It is formed to a thickness of, for example, 20 nm using SbTe. In addition, as a material of the recording layer 23, for example,
GeSbTe, GeInSbTe, etc. can be used, but are not limited to these. The point is that the optical characteristics change reversibly before and after laser beam irradiation, that is, the crystallization state and the amorphous state due to thermal action. Any material whose state transition reversibly changes can be used. As a material of the recording layer 23, for example, the space group Fm3
When a material having a metastable Sb ₃ Te phase belonging to m is used, the transition between the crystallized state and the amorphous state can be reversibly changed by thermal action, high-density recording is possible, and Excellent repetitive recording characteristics can be obtained.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a recording layer 23
The substrate 21 having the film formed thereon is retracted from the recording layer film forming chamber 6 by retracting the telescopic arm 11, and the substrate holder 10 holding the substrate 21 is rotated to the position of the upper protective layer film forming chamber 7 by the rotating shaft 12. Then, the telescopic arm 11 is extended, and the substrate 21 held by the substrate holder 10 is stored in the upper protective layer deposition chamber 7.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 forms the upper protective layer 24 on the recording layer 23 in the upper protective layer film forming chamber 7 as shown in FIG. The upper protective layer 24 is made of, for example, ZnS / SiO ₂ as a material and has a thickness of 20 n.
m.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 takes out the substrate 21 on which the upper protective layer 24 is formed from the upper protective layer film forming chamber 7 by retracting the telescopic arm 11, and removes the substrate 21 by the rotating shaft 12. The held substrate holder 10 is rotated to the position of the reflective layer film forming chamber 8, the telescopic arm 11 is extended, and the substrate 21 held by the substrate holder 10 is moved into the reflective layer film forming chamber 8 and the reflective layer film forming chamber 9. Store sequentially.

In the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 2 (c), in the reflective layer film forming chamber 8 and the reflective layer film forming chamber 9,
The reflective layer 25 is formed on the upper protective layer 24. The reflective layer 25 is made of, for example, Al,
m.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 includes the reflection layer 25
The substrate 21 having the film formed thereon is taken out of the reflective layer film forming chamber 9 by contracting the telescopic arm 11. The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 includes:
When the substrate 21 is taken out from the reflection layer film forming chamber 9, the rotating shaft 12
By rotating the substrate holder 10 holding the substrate 21 to the position of the substrate loading / unloading chamber 2 by extending the telescopic arm 11, the manufactured optical information recording medium 20 is transferred through the substrate loading / unloading chamber 2 to optical information. It is taken out of the recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1.

The optical information recording medium 20 manufactured as described above is made of the above-mentioned materials, that is, ZnS / SiO ₂ as the underlayer protection layer 22 and the upper layer protection layer 24, and AgInSbTe as the recording layer 23 and the reflection layer 25. , Al, the underlayer protective layer 22 after etching is 100 nm, the recording layer 23 is 20 nm, the upper protective layer 24 is 20 nm,
When the reflective layer 25 was formed to a thickness of 200 nm, the amorphous state remained in the recording layer 23 of the optical information recording medium 20 and did not reach complete initialization. When the optical information recording medium 20 was initialized by laser beam irradiation, it took 60 seconds to initialize in the conventional initialization method, but the optical information manufactured by the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment was used. Recording medium 20
Required only 20 seconds to initialize. Therefore, the initialization time can be significantly reduced, and the throughput in manufacturing the initialized optical information recording medium 20 can be greatly improved.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment uses the optical information recording medium 2 manufactured with the above-mentioned material and film thickness.
Although the amorphous state remained in the recording layer 23 of No. 0,
The state of crystallization of the recording layer 23 may be determined by the material system of the recording layer 23 or the underlying protective layer 2 to be removed by dry etching.
2 varies depending on the thickness (Td−T) of
By selecting an appropriate combination of the removed film thicknesses of the upper protective layer 24 according to the material of the recording layer 23, the optical information recording medium 20 is manufactured at the stage of manufacturing the optical information recording medium 20 by the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1. Can be completely in an amorphous state, and the optical information recording medium 20 in a state where the initialization has been completely completed by the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 can be manufactured.

As described above, the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 and the optical information recording medium 20 of the present embodiment form the recording layer 23 whose optical characteristics are reversibly changed by the irradiation of the laser beam. The underlayer protection layer 22 is formed to be once thicker by a predetermined thickness (Td-T) than the desired thickness T, and then removed by dry etching to form a final desired thickness T. By irradiating the energy of the dry etching, the substrate 21 can be heated through the base protective layer 22 having a desired film thickness T, and the temperature of the substrate 21 before forming the recording layer 23 can be set to a high temperature. Due to the preheating of the substrate 21 before the formation of the recording layer 23, the recording layer 23 is brought into a crystallized state immediately after the film formation, or at least a mixed state of a crystalline state and an amorphous state, so that initialization is unnecessary or easy. It is possible to eliminate the initialization step or shorten the initialization time to improve the productivity of the optical information recording medium 20 and to make the optical information recording medium 20 inexpensive. it can.

Further, the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 and the optical information recording medium 20 of the present embodiment use sputter etching using Ar gas as dry etching for removing the upper protective layer 22. ing.

Accordingly, dry etching can be easily performed by using a single-wafer sputtering apparatus generally used for manufacturing the optical information recording medium 20, and the productivity of the optical information recording medium 20 can be improved. And the optical information recording medium 20 can be made more inexpensive.

Further, in the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 and the optical information recording medium 20 of the present embodiment, in the above manufacturing process, the formation of the underlayer protective layer 22 having an arbitrary film thickness Td and the dry etching are alternately performed an arbitrary number of times. By repeating this step, the temperature of the substrate 21 before the formation of the recording layer 23 can be set at a higher temperature, the crystallization effect of the recording layer 23 can be further increased, and the formation of the underlying protective layer 22 can be further improved. The temperature of the substrate 21 can be controlled by adjusting the thickness of the film and the thickness of the etching.

Further, at least during the formation and etching of the undercoat protective layer 22, at least the surface of the substrate holder 10 holding the substrate 21 facing the substrate 21 is made of a material having a thermal conductivity close to or the same as that of the substrate 21. In addition, heat radiation from the substrate 21 can be prevented, the temperature of the substrate 21 can be maintained at a high temperature, the temperature distribution in the plane of the substrate 21 can be made uniform, and the crystallization of the recording layer 23 can be promoted. And uniform crystallization can be realized. For example, when a polymer material such as a typical polycarbonate resin is used as the material of the substrate 21, at least the surface of the substrate holder 10 facing the substrate 21 has a thermal conductivity of 0.1.
It is desirable to select a value of about 1.0 (Kcal / m · hr · ° C.).

Further, if the crystallization promoting layer is formed after the underlayer protective layer 22 having an arbitrary thickness Td and immediately before the formation of the recording layer 23, the crystallization of the recording layer 23 is further promoted. can do. The crystallization promoting layer can shorten the crystallization time and improve the production throughput in a material system that is completely crystalline when the above manufacturing process is performed. In a material system in which is mixed, it is possible to increase the ratio of being in a crystallized state or to completely crystallize. The same effect as described above can be obtained also when the film on which dry etching is performed is used as the crystallization promoting layer. As the crystallization promoting layer, a material containing at least Bi is effective.

FIGS. 3A to 3D are views showing a second embodiment of the optical information recording medium and the method for manufacturing the optical information recording medium according to the present invention. This corresponds to claim 2 and claim 8.

This embodiment is applied to a case where an optical information recording medium is manufactured by using the same optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus as that of the first embodiment. In the description, the same reference numerals used in FIG. 1 of the first embodiment are used as they are.

In this embodiment, the optical information recording medium 30 shown in FIGS. 3A to 3D is manufactured using the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. The optical information recording medium 30 is manufactured without using the dry etching chamber 5 by adding the function of sputter etching using Ar gas to the chamber 4. That is, the base protective layer film forming chamber 4 is used as a base protective layer film forming and dry etching chamber.

Using the above optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1,
To manufacture the optical information recording medium 30, first, the substrate
The substrate 31 of the optical information recording medium 30 is transferred via the unloading chamber 2 to the substrate holder 10
The substrate 31 is sequentially transported to the positions of the base protective layer film forming chamber 3 and the base protective layer film forming chamber 4 by rotating the rotating shaft 12, and the telescopic arm 11 is extended so that the base protective layer film forming chamber 3 is extended. 3 and the base protective layer deposition chamber 4.

The substrate 31 is, for example, a polycarbonate substrate having a diameter of 120 mm and a thickness of 0.6 mm formed by injection molding.

In the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 3A, a base protective layer 32 is formed on a substrate 31 in the base protective layer film forming chamber 3 and the base protective layer film forming chamber 4. I do. The underlying protective layer 32 is made of, for example, ZnS / SiO ₂ as a material.
Is formed to a predetermined thickness Ts, for example, 110 nm.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 does not move the substrate 31 on which the underlying protective layer 32 has been formed, and moves the substrate 31 in the underlying protective layer film forming chamber 4, which is a chamber for forming the underlying protective layer and performing dry etching. As shown in (b), the upper portion of the underlayer protective layer 32 having the thickness Ts is removed by a predetermined thickness (Ts-Tr) by sputter etching using Ar gas, and the underlayer protective layer 3 is removed.
2 is set to a thickness Tr. For example, when the film thickness Ts of the base protective layer 32 is 110 nm, the predetermined thickness (Ts−T
As r), only 20 nm is removed by sputter etching, and the film thickness Tr of the base protective layer 32 is set to 90 nm.

In the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1, the substrate 31 on which the etching of the undercoat protective layer 32 is completed is again applied to the undercoat protective layer 32 by a predetermined thickness (Ts-Tr) in the undercoat protective film forming chamber 4. After the film is formed, the state shown in FIG. The underlying protective layer 32 is removed again by a predetermined thickness (Ts-Tr) by sputter etching, and is again removed by a predetermined thickness (Ts-Tr).
−Tr) to form the underlying protective layer 32 only
Is repeatedly performed a predetermined number of times, for example, five times. Finally, the thickness Ts is set in the base protection layer deposition chamber 4.
3C, a predetermined thickness (Ts-T) is removed to form the base protective layer 32 to have a predetermined thickness T, as shown in FIG. For example, the base protective layer 3
2 is 110 nm, the predetermined thickness (Ts
As −T), 10 nm is removed by sputter etching, and the film thickness T of the underlying protective layer 32 is set to 100 nm.

In the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1, the final etching is completed in the
The substrate 31 on which the film is formed is retracted by retracting the telescopic arm 11 and taken out of the base protection layer film forming chamber 4, and the substrate 3 is rotated by the rotating shaft 12.
The substrate holder 10 holding 1 is rotated to the position of the recording layer film forming chamber 6, the telescopic arm 11 is extended, and the substrate 31 held by the substrate holder 10 is stored in the recording layer film forming chamber 6.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 forms the recording layer 33 on the undercoat protective layer 32 in the recording layer film forming chamber 6 as shown in FIG. The recording layer 33 is formed to a thickness of 20 nm using, for example, AgInSbTe as a material.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a recording layer 33
The substrate 31 on which the film 31 is formed is retracted from the recording layer film forming chamber 6 by retracting the telescopic arm 11, and the substrate holder 10 holding the substrate 31 is rotated to the position of the upper protective layer film forming chamber 7 by the rotating shaft 12. Then, the telescopic arm 11 is extended, and the substrate 31 held by the substrate holder 10 is stored in the upper protective layer deposition chamber 7.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 forms the upper protective layer 34 on the recording layer 33 in the upper protective layer film forming chamber 7 as shown in FIG. The upper protective layer 34 is formed to a thickness of, for example, 20 nm using ZnS / SiO ₂ as a material, for example.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 takes out the substrate 31 on which the upper protective layer 34 is formed from the upper protective layer film forming chamber 7 by shrinking the telescopic arm 11, and holds the substrate 31 by the rotating shaft 12. The rotated substrate holder 10 is rotated to the position of the reflective layer film forming chamber 8, the telescopic arm 11 is extended, and the substrate 31 held by the substrate holder 10 is sequentially placed in the reflective layer film forming chamber 8 and the reflective layer film forming chamber 9. To store.

In the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 3D, in the reflective layer film forming chamber 8 and the reflective layer film forming chamber 9,
The reflection layer 35 is formed on the upper protection layer 34. The reflection layer 35 is made of, for example, 200 n using Al as a material.
m.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 includes the reflection layer 35
The substrate 31 on which the film is formed is retracted by retracting the telescopic arm 11 and taken out of the reflective layer film forming chamber 9. The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 includes:
When the substrate 31 is taken out from the reflection layer deposition chamber 9, the rotation shaft 12
By rotating the substrate holder 10 holding the substrate 31 to the position of the substrate loading / unloading chamber 2 by extending the telescopic arm 11, the optical information recording medium 30 manufactured by the substrate loading / unloading chamber 2 It is taken out of the recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1.

The optical information recording medium 30 manufactured in this manner is made of the above-mentioned materials, that is, ZnS / SiO ₂ as the underlayer protection layer 32 and the upper layer protection layer 34, and AgInSbTe and the reflection layer 35 as the recording layer 33. , Al, and the underlying protective layer 32 after the final etching is
m, the recording layer 33 is 20 nm, and the upper protective layer 34 is 20 nm.
The reflective layer 35 was formed to a thickness of 200 nm, and the reflectance was evaluated.
Of the recording layer 33 was sufficiently initialized, and it was confirmed that the initialization was completed.

Therefore, the initialization process of the optical information recording medium 30 can be omitted, and the enormous capital investment required for the conventional initialization system for initializing the optical information recording medium can be reduced. .

In the above embodiment, the base protective layer 3
2, the total film thickness (total film thickness) Td is 210 nm ((Ts + 5 × (Ts−Tr)), and the total removed film thickness (total removed film thickness) is 110 nm ((T
s−Tr) × 5 + (Ts−T)).

As described above, when the total thickness of the removed underlying protective layer 32 is increased, the total amount of energy applied to the surface of the underlying protective layer 32 during etching can be increased. The temperature of the substrate 31 can be increased, and the recording layer 33 can be more completely crystallized.

Note that the underlayer protective layer 3 in the present embodiment is
The film thickness of film 2, the etching film thickness, and the number of repetitions of film formation and etching are not limited.
The conditions necessary and sufficient for crystallization of can be appropriately set.

The film thickness and the etching film thickness of the underlying protective layer 32 do not need to be the same every time the film forming and the etching are repeated, and may be appropriately set as long as the underlying protective layer 32 is not removed. Can be set.

As described above, the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 and the optical information recording medium 30 of this embodiment
2 is formed to a thickness Ts that is once more than the desired thickness T by a predetermined thickness before the formation of the recording layer 33, and then a plurality of times of film formation and removal processing for removing by dry etching are performed. After forming again a predetermined thickness larger than the desired film thickness, the final desired film thickness T is formed by dry etching.

Therefore, before forming the recording layer 33,
The substrate 31 is heated to a high temperature, and in the film formation stage, the recording layer 33 is more appropriately crystallized, so that the initialization is unnecessary. The initialization process can be omitted, and the optical information recording medium 3 can be omitted.
0 can be further improved, and the optical information recording medium 30 can be made inexpensive.

Also in the present embodiment, the dry etching used to remove the underlying protective layer 32 is performed as follows.
Since sputter etching using Ar gas is used, dry etching can be easily performed using a single-wafer sputtering apparatus generally used for manufacturing the optical information recording medium 30, and optical information recording can be performed. The productivity of the medium 30 can be improved, and the optical information recording medium 30 can be made more inexpensive.

FIGS. 4A to 4C are diagrams showing a third embodiment of the optical information recording medium and the method for manufacturing the optical information recording medium according to the present invention. This corresponds to claims 2 and 8.

This embodiment is applied to a case where an optical information recording medium is manufactured by using the same optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus as that of the first embodiment. In the description, the same reference numerals used in FIG. 1 of the first embodiment are used as they are.

In the present embodiment, the optical information recording medium 40 shown in FIGS. 4A to 4C is manufactured by using the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. And a crystallization promoting layer film forming chamber, and a base protective layer film forming chamber 4 with an additional sputter etching function using Ar gas, and is used as a base protective layer film forming and dry etching chamber. 40 is manufactured.

Using the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 described above,
To manufacture the optical information recording medium 40, first,
The substrate 41 of the optical information recording medium 40 is transferred through the unloading chamber 2 to the substrate holder 10
The substrate 41 is sequentially transported to the positions of the base protective layer film forming chamber 3 and the base protective layer film forming chamber 4 by rotating the rotation shaft 12, and the telescopic arm 11 is extended to extend the base protective layer film forming chamber 3. 3 and the base protective layer deposition chamber 4.

The substrate 41 is, for example, a polycarbonate substrate having a diameter of 120 mm and a thickness of 0.6 mm formed by injection molding.

In the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 4A, a base protective layer 42 is formed on a substrate 41 in the base protective layer film forming chamber 3 and the base protective layer film forming chamber 4. I do. The underlying protective layer 42 is made of, for example, ZnS / SiO ₂ as a material.
Is formed to a predetermined thickness Td, for example, a thickness of 120 nm.

Further, the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 does not move the substrate 41 on which the underlayer protective layer 42 is formed, but moves the substrate 41 in the underlayer protective layer film forming chamber 4 which is the underlayer protective layer film formation and dry etching chamber. As shown in FIG. 4B, the upper portion of the underlayer protective layer 42 having a thickness Td is formed by a predetermined thickness (Td-T).
The base protective layer 42 is removed by sputter etching using an r gas to have a thickness T. For example, when the film thickness Td of the undercoat protective layer 42 is 120 nm, the predetermined thickness (T
As d-T), only 20 nm is removed by sputter etching, and the film thickness T of the base protective layer 42 is set to 100 nm.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 mounts the substrate 41 on which the base protective layer 42 has been etched
Is taken out of the underlayer protective layer film forming chamber 4 and
2, the substrate holder 10 holding the substrate 41 is rotated to the position of the dry etching chamber 5 which is a crystallization promoting layer film forming chamber, the telescopic arm 11 is extended, and the substrate 41 held by the substrate holder 10 is moved to the dry etching chamber. 5 sequentially.

In the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 4 (c), the crystallization promoting layer 43
Is formed. The crystallization promoting layer 43 is formed to a thickness of 3 nm, for example, using Bi as a material.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 removes the substrate 41 on which the crystallization promoting layer 43 is formed from the dry etching chamber 5 by shrinking the telescopic arm 11, and holds the substrate 41 by the rotating shaft 12. The substrate 10 is rotated to the position of the recording layer film forming chamber 6, the telescopic arm 11 is extended, and the substrate 41 held by the substrate holder 10 is stored in the recording layer film forming chamber 6.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (5), a recording layer 44 is formed on the crystallization promoting layer 43 in the recording layer film forming chamber 6. The recording layer 44 includes, for example,
It is formed to a thickness of 20 nm using AgInSbTe as a material.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a recording layer 44
The substrate 41 on which the film 41 is formed is retracted from the recording layer film forming chamber 6 by retracting the telescopic arm 11, and the substrate holder 10 holding the substrate 41 is rotated by the rotating shaft 12 to the position of the upper protective layer film forming chamber 7. Then, the telescopic arm 11 is extended, and the substrate 41 held by the substrate holder 10 is stored in the upper protective layer deposition chamber 7.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 forms an upper protective layer 45 on the recording layer 44 in the upper protective layer film forming chamber 7 as shown in FIG. The upper protective layer 45 is formed to a thickness of, for example, 20 nm using ZnS / SiO ₂ as a material, for example.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 removes the substrate 41 on which the upper protective layer 45 has been formed from the upper protective layer film forming chamber 7 by contracting the telescopic arm 11, and removes the substrate 41 by the rotating shaft 12. The held substrate holder 10 is rotated to the position of the reflective layer film forming chamber 8, the telescopic arm 11 is extended, and the substrate 41 held by the substrate holder 10 is moved into the reflective layer film forming chamber 8 and the reflective layer film forming chamber 9. Store sequentially.

In the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1, as shown in FIG.
On the upper protective layer 45, a reflective layer 46 is formed. The reflection layer 46 is made of, for example, Al
m.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 includes the reflection layer 46.
The substrate 41 on which the film is formed is retracted by retracting the telescopic arm 11 and taken out of the reflective layer film forming chamber 9. The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 includes:
When the substrate 41 is taken out of the reflection layer deposition chamber 9, the rotation shaft 12
By rotating the substrate holder 10 holding the substrate 41 to the position of the substrate loading / unloading chamber 2 by extending the telescopic arm 11, the optical information recording medium 40 manufactured through the substrate loading / unloading chamber 2 is subjected to optical information. It is taken out of the recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1.

The optical information recording medium 40 manufactured as described above is made of the above-mentioned materials, that is, ZnS / SiO ₂ , the crystallization promoting layer 4 as the underlayer protective layer 42 and the upper layer protective layer 45.
3, as Bi, and as the recording layer 44, AgInSbTe.
Al is used as the reflection layer 46, and the base protection layer 42 after the final etching is
3 nm, the recording layer 44 is 20 nm, the upper protective layer 45 after the final etching is 20 nm, and the reflection layer 46 is 2 nm.
When each was formed to a thickness of 00 nm and the reflectance was evaluated, it was confirmed that the recording layer 44 of the optical information recording medium 40 was sufficiently initialized and the initialization was completed. did it.

Therefore, the initialization process of the optical information recording medium 40 can be omitted, and the enormous capital investment required for the initialization system for initializing the optical information recording medium can be reduced. .

In this manner, when the crystallization promoting layer 43 is formed between the underlying protective layer 42 and the recording layer 44, the surface of the underlying protective layer 42 can be sufficiently heated by irradiating the surface of the underlying protective layer 42 with energy during etching. Crystallization promoting layer 4
3, the recording layer 44 can be more completely crystallized.

As described above, in the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 and the optical information recording medium 40 of the present embodiment, the crystallization promoting layer 43 is formed immediately below the recording layer 44.

Therefore, in the film formation stage, the recording layer 44 can be more appropriately crystallized so that the initialization is unnecessary. The initialization process is omitted, and the productivity of the optical information recording medium 40 is reduced. Can be further improved, and the optical information recording medium 40 can be made inexpensive.

The substrate 41 is used as the substrate holder 10.
When using the same material made of polycarbonate resin as above, the recording layer 44 of the optical information recording medium 40 was sufficiently initialized even when the etching thickness of the underlying protective layer 42 was set to 15 nm. Has been completed,
It was confirmed that the substrate holder 10 exhibited an effect of making the reflectance distribution of the crystallized surface uniform.

FIGS. 5A to 5C are views showing a fourth embodiment of the optical information recording medium and the method for manufacturing the optical information recording medium according to the present invention. It corresponds to claim 4, claim 5, claim 10, and claim 11.

This embodiment is applied to a case where an optical information recording medium is manufactured by using the same optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus as that of the first embodiment. In the description, the same reference numerals used in FIG. 1 of the first embodiment are used as they are.

In this embodiment, the optical information recording medium 50 shown in FIGS. 5A to 5C is manufactured by using the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. The optical information recording medium 50 is manufactured using the crystallization promoting layer film forming chamber and the dry etching chamber.

Using the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 described above,
To manufacture the optical information recording medium 50, first,
The substrate 51 of the optical information recording medium 50 is transferred via the unloading chamber 2 to the substrate holder 10 attached to the distal end of the telescopic arm 11.
The substrate 51 is sequentially transferred to the positions of the base protective layer film forming chamber 3 and the base protective layer film forming chamber 4 by rotating the rotating shaft 12, and the telescopic arm 11 is extended so that the base protective layer film forming chamber 3 is extended. 3 and the base protective layer deposition chamber 4.

This substrate 51 is, for example, a polycarbonate substrate having a diameter of 120 mm and a thickness of 0.6 mm formed by injection molding.

In the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 5A, the underlayer protection layer 52 is formed on the substrate 51 in the underlayer protection layer deposition chamber 3 and the underlayer protection layer deposition chamber 4. I do. The underlying protective layer 52 is made of, for example, ZnS / SiO ₂ as a material.
Is formed to a predetermined film thickness Td, for example, a thickness of 100 nm.

Further, the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 takes out the substrate 51 on which the undercoat protective layer 52 has been formed from the undercoat protective layer film forming chamber 4 by shrinking the telescopic arm 11, and
By rotating the substrate holder 10 holding the substrate 51 to the position of the dry etching chamber 5 which is a crystallization promoting layer film forming chamber and a dry etching chamber, the telescopic arm 11 is extended,
The substrate 51 held by the substrate holder 10 is housed in the dry etching chamber 5.

In the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 5A, a crystal is formed on the undercoat protective layer 52 in a dry etching chamber 5 which is a crystallization promoting layer film forming chamber and a dry etching chamber. The oxidation promoting layer 53 is formed. Crystallization promoting layer 53
Is, for example, using Bi as a material and a predetermined film thickness Td.
Is formed to a thickness of, for example, 10 nm.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 does not move the substrate 51 on which the crystallization accelerating layer 53 is formed, and moves the substrate 51 in the dry etching chamber 5 which is a crystallization accelerating layer film forming chamber and a dry etching chamber. As shown in (b), the upper part of the crystallization promoting layer 53 having the thickness Td is formed by a predetermined thickness (Td-T).
The crystallization promoting layer 53 is removed by sputtering etching using an Ar gas to have a thickness T. For example, if the film thickness Td of the crystallization promoting layer 53 is 10 nm, a predetermined thickness (Td-T) is removed only by 7 nm by sputtering etching using Ar.
Is 3 nm.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 mounts the substrate 51 on which the etching of the crystallization promoting layer 53 has been completed
1, the substrate holder 10 holding the substrate 51 is rotated by the rotating shaft 12 to the position of the recording layer film forming chamber 6, and the telescopic arm 11 is extended to be held by the substrate holder 10. The substrate 51 is stored in the recording layer deposition chamber 6.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (5), a recording layer 54 is formed on the crystallization promoting layer 53 in the recording layer film forming chamber 6. The recording layer 54 is, for example,
It is formed to a thickness of 20 nm using AgInSbTe as a material.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a recording layer 54
The substrate 51 on which the film 51 is formed is retracted from the recording layer film forming chamber 6 by contracting the telescopic arm 11, and the substrate holder 10 holding the substrate 51 is rotated to the position of the upper protective layer film forming chamber 7 by the rotating shaft 12. Then, the telescopic arm 11 is extended, and the substrate 51 held by the substrate holder 10 is stored in the upper protective layer deposition chamber 7.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 forms an upper protective layer 55 on the recording layer 54 in the upper protective layer film forming chamber 7 as shown in FIG. The upper protective layer 55 is formed to a thickness of, for example, 20 nm using ZnS / SiO ₂ as a material, for example.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 takes out the substrate 51 on which the upper protective layer 55 is formed from the upper protective layer film forming chamber 7 by contracting the telescopic arm 11, and removes the substrate 51 by the rotating shaft 12. The held substrate holder 10 is rotated to the position of the reflective layer film forming chamber 8, the telescopic arm 11 is extended, and the substrate 51 held by the substrate holder 10 is moved into the reflective layer film forming chamber 8 and the reflective layer film forming chamber 9. Store sequentially.

In the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 5C, the reflection layer film forming chamber 8 and the reflection layer film formation chamber 9 are used.
The reflection layer 56 is formed on the upper protection layer 55. The reflection layer 56 is made of, for example, 200 n using Al as a material.
m.

The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a reflecting layer 56
The substrate 51 on which is formed the film is taken out of the reflective layer film forming chamber 9 by contracting the telescopic arm 11. The optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1 includes:
When the substrate 51 is taken out from the reflective layer deposition chamber 9, the rotating shaft 12
By rotating the substrate holder 10 holding the substrate 51 to the position of the substrate loading / unloading chamber 2 by extending the telescopic arm 11, the manufactured optical information recording medium 50 is It is taken out of the recording medium manufacturing apparatus 1.

The optical information recording medium 50 manufactured as described above is made of the above-mentioned materials, that is, ZnS / SiO ₂ , the crystallization promoting layer 5 as the underlayer protective layer 52 and the upper layer protective layer 55.
3, as Bi, and as the recording layer 54, AgInSbTe.
And the reflective layer 56 is made of Al,
100 nm, crystallization promoting layer 5 after final etching
3 is 3 nm, the recording layer 54 is 20 nm, and the upper protective layer 5
5 was formed to a thickness of 20 nm, and the reflective layer 56 was formed to a thickness of 200 nm, and the reflectance was evaluated. As a result, the recording layer 54 of the optical information recording medium 50 was sufficiently initialized.
It was confirmed that the initialization was completed.

Therefore, the initialization process of the optical information recording medium 50 can be omitted, and the enormous capital investment required for the conventional initialization system for initializing the optical information recording medium can be reduced. .

As described above, when the crystallization promoting layer 53 is formed between the undercoat protective layer 52 and the recording layer 54, the substrate heated sufficiently by the irradiation of energy to the surface of the crystallization promoting layer 53 during etching. The combination of 51 with the function of the crystallization promoting layer 53 allows the recording layer 54 to be more completely crystallized.

As described above, the invention made by the inventor has been specifically described based on the preferred embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to the above, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. It goes without saying that it is possible.

[0145]

According to the optical information recording medium of the present invention, at least an arbitrary film formed before the recording layer whose optical characteristics change reversibly before and after the irradiation of the laser beam. In the laminating step, the arbitrary film is formed once more by a predetermined thickness than the desired film thickness, and then removed by dry etching to form the desired film thickness.
The disk substrate temperature before recording layer deposition is set to a high temperature by dry etching of any film, and immediately after film deposition,
The recording layer can be crystallized, or as a state in which the crystalline state and the amorphous state are mixed, the initialization can be made unnecessary or easy, and the initialization step can be omitted or the initialization time can be shortened. Thus, the productivity of the optical information recording medium can be improved, and the optical information recording medium can be made inexpensive.

According to the optical information recording medium of the second aspect of the present invention, an arbitrary film is formed once more than a desired film thickness by a predetermined film thickness and then removed by dry etching. Since the removal process is performed a plurality of times, the recording layer is more appropriately crystallized in the film formation stage, or the amorphous state is mixed with the crystalline state, so that the initialization is unnecessary or the initial state is not required. That can be easily initialized, eliminating the initialization step, or
The initialization time can be further reduced, the productivity of the optical information recording medium can be further improved, and the optical information recording medium can be made inexpensive.

According to the optical information recording medium of the third aspect of the present invention, since the sputter etching using Ar gas is used as the dry etching used to remove an arbitrary film, Dry etching can be easily performed by using a single-wafer sputtering apparatus generally used in manufacturing, and the productivity of the optical information recording medium can be improved. It can be.

According to the optical information recording medium of the present invention, since the crystallization promoting layer is formed immediately below the recording layer, the recording layer can be more appropriately crystallized at the film forming stage. Or, as a state in which the crystalline state is somewhat mixed with the amorphous state, initialization is unnecessary, or initialization can be easily performed, and the initialization step is omitted, or
The initialization time can be further reduced, the productivity of the optical information recording medium can be further improved, and the optical information recording medium can be made inexpensive.

According to the optical information recording medium of the present invention, since the material containing at least Bi is used as the material of the crystallization promoting layer, the recording layer is formed by the crystallization promoting layer at the film formation stage. Crystallization more appropriately, or as a state in which the amorphous state is mixed somewhat with the crystalline state, initialization can be unnecessary or can be easily performed, and the initialization step can be omitted or the initialization time can be reduced. Further shortening can improve the productivity of the optical information recording medium, and can reduce the cost of the optical information recording medium.

According to the optical information recording medium of the invention, the recording layer is formed of a metastable Sb ₃ belonging to the space group Fm3m.
Since the recording layer has a Te phase, the recording layer is more appropriately crystallized by the crystallization promoting layer in the film formation stage, or the amorphous state is mixed in the crystalline state to some extent, so that the initialization is unnecessary or the initial state is not required. In addition to being able to be easily made, high-density recording is possible, and can have excellent repetitive recording characteristics,
The initialization step can be omitted, or the initialization time can be further shortened, and the productivity can be further improved, and the optical information recording medium can be made inexpensive.

According to the method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium of the present invention, at least an arbitrary film formed before a recording layer whose optical characteristics change reversibly before and after laser beam irradiation. In the laminating step, the arbitrary film is once formed to a thickness larger than the desired film thickness by a predetermined thickness, and then is removed by dry etching to form the desired film thickness. The previous disk substrate temperature is set to a high temperature by dry-etching an arbitrary film, and in the film formation stage, the recording layer is crystallized, or the crystal state and the amorphous state are mixed, so that initialization is unnecessary. Or,
It can be easily initialized, can eliminate the initialization step, or can shorten the initialization time, improve the productivity of the optical information recording medium, and use an inexpensive optical information recording medium. It can be.

According to the method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium of the present invention, when forming an arbitrary film, the arbitrary film is formed to be once thicker by a predetermined thickness than a desired thickness. Thereafter, since the film is formed by performing film formation and removal processing a plurality of times by removing the film by dry etching to form a predetermined film thickness, the recording layer is more appropriately crystallized or crystallized in the film formation stage. The optical information recording medium is a state in which the initialization is unnecessary or easy to initialize as a state in which the state is somewhat mixed with the amorphous state, and the initialization step can be omitted or the initialization time can be further shortened. Productivity can be further improved,
The optical information recording medium can be inexpensive.

According to the method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium according to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the sputter etching using Ar gas is used as the dry etching for removing an arbitrary film. Dry etching can be easily performed using a single-wafer sputtering apparatus generally used in the production of recording media, and the productivity of optical information recording media can be improved. It can be even cheaper.

According to the method of manufacturing an optical information recording medium according to the tenth aspect, after forming a crystallization promoting layer immediately below the recording layer, the recording layer is formed on the crystallization promoting layer. Therefore, in the film formation stage, the recording layer can be more appropriately crystallized, or a state in which the amorphous state is mixed with the crystalline state can be made initialization unnecessary or easy. Omitting the initialization process, or by further shortening the initialization time, it is possible to further improve the productivity of the optical information recording medium,
The optical information recording medium can be inexpensive.

According to the method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium according to the eleventh aspect, since the crystallization promoting layer is formed using a material containing at least Bi,
The recording layer can be more appropriately crystallized by the crystallization promoting layer, or as a state in which the amorphous state is mixed in the crystalline state to some extent, the initialization is unnecessary or the initialization can be easily performed. It is possible to omit or to further reduce the initialization time, to further improve the productivity of the optical information recording medium, and to make the optical information recording medium inexpensive.

According to the method of manufacturing an optical information recording medium of the twelfth aspect of the present invention, at least a surface facing the substrate is used as a substrate holder for holding the substrate of the optical information recording medium during film formation and etching. Uses a substrate holder made of a material with the same or similar thermal conductivity to prevent heat radiation from the substrate and keep the substrate temperature high, Can be made uniform, the crystallization of the recording layer can be further promoted, and the crystallization can be performed uniformly.

According to the method of manufacturing an optical information recording medium according to the thirteenth aspect, a polymer material such as polycarbonate resin is used as the substrate, and the substrate is used as a substrate holder for holding the substrate of the optical information recording medium during film formation and etching. At least the surface facing the substrate is 0.1 to 1.0 (Kca).
(1 / m · hr · ° C.), since the substrate holder is formed of a material having a thermal conductivity of 1 / m · hr · ° C., heat radiation from the substrate can be prevented more efficiently, and the substrate temperature can be kept higher. In addition, the temperature distribution in the substrate surface can be made more uniform, the crystallization of the recording layer can be further promoted, and the crystallization can be made more uniform.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a main part configuration diagram of an optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus to which a first embodiment of an optical information recording medium and an optical information recording medium manufacturing method according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged front cross-sectional view of the optical information recording medium showing a manufacturing process of forming a base protective layer, a recording layer, and an upper protective layer on a substrate by the optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 shows an optical information recording medium and an optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus to which an optical information recording medium manufacturing method according to a second embodiment of the present invention is applied. FIG. 4 is an enlarged front cross-sectional view of the optical information recording medium, showing a manufacturing process for forming a recording medium.

FIG. 4 shows an optical information recording medium and an optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus to which an optical information recording medium manufacturing method according to a third embodiment of the present invention is applied. FIG. 4 is an enlarged front cross-sectional view of the optical information recording medium showing a manufacturing process for forming an upper protection layer.

FIG. 5 shows an optical information recording medium and an optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus to which an optical information recording medium manufacturing method according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention is applied. FIG. 4 is an enlarged front cross-sectional view of the optical information recording medium showing a manufacturing process for forming an upper protection layer.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Optical information recording medium manufacturing apparatus 2 Substrate carry-in / carry-out room 3 Base protective layer film forming room 4 Base protective layer film forming room 5 Recording layer film forming room 6 Upper ground protective layer film forming room 7 Dry etching room 8 Reflective layer film forming Chamber 9 Reflective layer deposition chamber 10 Substrate holder 11 Telescopic arm 12 Rotating axis 20 Optical information recording medium 21 Substrate 22 Underlayer protective layer 23 Recording layer 24 Upper layer protective layer 25 Reflective layer 30 Optical information recording medium 31 Substrate 32 Underlayer protective layer 33 Recording layer 34 Upper protective layer 35 Reflective layer 40 Optical information recording medium 41 Substrate 42 Under protective layer 43 Crystallization promoting layer 44 Recording layer 45 Upper protective layer 46 Reflective layer 50 Optical information recording medium 51 Substrate 52 Under protective layer 53 Crystal Layer 54 Recording layer 55 Upper layer protective layer 56 Reflective layer

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Masaru Makashi 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Ricoh Company (72) Inventor Yuji Miura 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Share F-term in Ricoh Company (reference) 2H111 EA03 EA23 FA01 FA23 FB12 GA01 GA11 5D029 HA05 HA06 JA01 JB03 5D121 AA03 EE03 EE27 EE28 GG04

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. An optical information recording medium having at least a recording layer whose optical characteristics change reversibly before and after irradiation with a laser beam, wherein recording, reproduction and erasing are performed using the laser beam. In the step of laminating an arbitrary film formed before the layer, the arbitrary film is formed to be once thicker by a predetermined thickness than a desired thickness, and then removed by dry etching to obtain the desired film. An optical information recording medium characterized by being formed thick. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the arbitrary film is formed by performing a film forming and removing process a plurality of times by temporarily forming the film by a predetermined thickness greater than the desired film thickness and then removing the film by dry etching. 2. The optical information recording medium according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the dry etching is sputter etching using Ar gas.
Or the optical information recording medium according to claim 2. 4. The optical information recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the optical information recording medium has a crystallization promoting layer formed immediately below the recording layer. Medium. 5. The optical information recording medium according to claim 4, wherein said crystallization promoting layer is formed of a material containing at least Bi. 6. The optical information recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the recording layer has a metastable Sb ₃ Te phase belonging to a space group Fm3m. 7. A method for producing an optical information recording medium comprising a recording layer whose optical characteristics change reversibly before and after irradiation with a laser beam, and wherein recording, reproduction, and erasure are performed using the laser beam. In the step of laminating an arbitrary film formed before the recording layer, the arbitrary film is once formed to be thicker by a predetermined thickness than a desired thickness, and then removed by dry etching, A method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium, comprising forming a film to a desired thickness. 8. The method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium according to claim 1, wherein, when forming the optional film, the optional film is formed to be once thicker by a predetermined thickness than a desired thickness, and then dry-etched. 8. The method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium according to claim 7, wherein the film is formed by performing a film forming and removing process of removing and forming a predetermined film thickness a plurality of times. 9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the dry etching is sputter etching using Ar gas.
9. A method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium according to claim 8. 10. The method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium, wherein a crystallization promoting layer is formed immediately below the recording layer, and then the recording layer is formed on the crystallization promoting layer. A method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium according to claim 7. 11. The method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium according to claim 10, wherein said crystallization promoting layer is formed using a material containing at least Bi. . 12. A method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium, comprising: as a substrate holder for holding a substrate of the optical information recording medium during the film formation and the etching, at least a surface facing the substrate has the same heat as the substrate. The method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium according to any one of claims 7 to 11, wherein a substrate holder made of a material having a conductivity or a similar thermal conductivity is used. 13. The method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is made of a polymer material such as polycarbonate resin, and at least as a substrate holder for holding the substrate of the optical information recording medium during the film formation and the etching. The surface facing the substrate is 0.1 to 1.0 (Kcal /
12. The method for manufacturing an optical information recording medium according to claim 7, wherein a substrate holder formed of a material having a thermal conductivity of (m · hr · ° C.) is used.