Characterization of optical storage media films by time-of-flight-energy elastic recoil detection analysis

The challenge of meeting the ever increasing demands for low-cost information storage media with greater information storage density and rapid access has prompted development of sophisticated optical technologies, e.g. CD (Compact Disc) and DVD (Digital Video Disc) in Read Only (ROM), Recordable (R), Re-writable (RW) and Random Access Memory (RAM). Here the suitability of Time of Flight-Energy Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis (ToF-E ERDA) to characterize optical storage media has been investigated. High-energy heavy ions (48 MeV ⁸¹Br⁸⁺ and 60 MeV ¹²⁷I¹⁰⁺) from an accelerator were used to analyze CD-ROM, CD-R and CD-RW structures. Simultaneous characterization of H, C, O, Al, P, Co, Cr, Ge, Sb/Te could be made. The results demonstrate the unique power of the technique for characterizing the structure and depth profile of the optical multi-layers as well as the ingress and influence of foreign species.