Abstract
The microstructures of AgInSbTe recording marks at different compact disk (CD) linear velocities are examined by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The recording marks are amorphous with some short-range order (clusters), and the degree of order in the recording marks decreases with linear velocities. The clusters in amorphous marks can enhance nucleation, so the amorphous marks can crystallize via nucleation and growth mechanism in the erasing process at low linear velocities. No clusters exist in the amorphous marks at CD 4X. Due to the difficulty of nucleation, the erasing process is dominated by the direct grain growth mechanism at high linear velocities.