Design and production of tellurium optical data disks

The design of the two most common types of tellurium based optical data disks is discussed. A first order merit function is defined. It is shown that a tellurium layer in the 100 to 150 A range maximizes this function in the case of a single absorbing layer on glass. If a so- called trilayer structure is used, a 20-fold improvement in the merit function can be obtained. Bit error rate is one of the most critical parameters to measure on the final product, yet there is little equipment which can handle it in a quantitative manner. In addition, storage condition standards need to be established to enable archivability to be defined and tested