New Ideas for Phase-Change Media - Achieving Sub-Microsecond Erase with Data Stability

Reversible optical information storage based on the amorphous-crystalline phase transformation has been the subject of many investigations since the early 1970’s1-8. One of the unresolved problems associated with phase-change recording media has been the need to trade off erase (crystallization) speed against data (amorphous phase) stability. For the most part, the search for viable phase-change recording material has been based on one common approach. Starting with a group VA or VIA element in the periodic table, Te being the most popular one, attempts were made to achieve the desired properties through alloying. To date, no one has published achieving a sub-microsecond erase speed along with a practical data retention period.