OPTICAL STORAGE MEDIUM COMPRISING TRACKS WITH POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE MARKS, AND STAMPERS AND PRODUCTION METHODS FOR MANUFACTURING OF THE OPTICAL STORAGE MEDIUM

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an optical storage medium, which comprises a substrate layer, a read-only data layer with a mark/space structure arranged in tracks on the substrate layer and a cover layer, and to a respective production of the optical storage medium. The optical storage medium comprises in particular also a mask layer with a super resolution near field structure for storing of data with a high data density.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Optical storage media are media in which data are stored in an optically readable manner, for example by means of a pickup comprising a laser for illuminating the optical storage medium and a photo-detector for detecting the reflected light of the laser beam when reading the data. In the meanwhile a large variety of optical storage media are available, which are operated with different laser wavelength, and which have different sizes for providing storage capacities from below one Gigabyte up to 50 Gigabyte (GB) . The formats include read-only formats (ROM) such as Audio CD and Video DVD, write-once optical media as well as rewritable formats. Digital data are stored on these media along tracks in one or more layers of the media.

The storage medium with the highest data capacity is at present the Blu-Ray disc (BD) , which allows to store 50 GB on a dual layer disc. Available formats are at present for example read-only BD-ROM, re-writable BD-RE and write once BD-R discs. For reading and writing of a Blu-Ray disc an optical pickup with a laser wavelength of 405 nm is used.

On the Blu-Ray disc a track pitch of 320 nm and a mark length from 2T to 8T, maximum 9T, is used, where T is the channel bit length, which corresponds with a length of 69 - 80 nm. Further information about the Blu-Ray disc system is available for example from the Blu-Ray group via Internet : www.blu-raydisc . com.

New optical storage media with a super-resolution near- field structure (Super-RENS) offer the possibility to increase the data density of the optical storage medium by a factor of three to four in one dimension in comparison with the Blu-Ray disc. This is possible by using a so- called Super-RENS structure or layer, which is placed above the data layer of the optical storage medium, and which significantly reduces the effective size of a light spot used for reading from or writing to the optical storage medium. The super-resolution layer is also called a mask layer because it is arranged above the data layer and by using specific materials only the high intensity center part of a laser beam can penetrate the mask layer.

The Super-RENS effect allows to record and read data stored in marks of an optical disc, which have a size below the resolution limit of a laser beam used for reading or writing the data on the disc. As known, the diffraction limit of the resolution of a laser beam is about lambda/ (2*NA) according to Abbe, where lambda is the wavelength and NA the numerical aperture of the objective lens of the optical pickup.

A Super-RENS optical disc comprising a super-resolution near-field structure formed of a metal oxide or a polymer compound for recording of data and a phase change layer formed of a GeSbTe or a AgInSbTe based structure for reproducing of data is known from WO 2005/081242 and US

2004/0257968. Further examples of super-resolution optical media are described in WO 2004/032123 and by Tominaga et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. Vol. 73, No. 15, 12 October 1998.

The super RENS effect allows to increase the resolution of the optical pickup for reading of the marks on an optical disc in track direction, but does not allow to reduce the track pitch.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The optical storage medium comprises a substrate layer, a cover layer and a data layer with a mark/space structure arranged in tracks. One track comprises positive marks and a neighboring track comprises negative marks. The tracks are arranged in particular as spirals wherein one spiral contains a track with only positive marks and a neighboring spiral contains a track with only negative marks. The positive marks of a track and correspondingly the negative marks of a track are separated each by spaces.

A positive mark corresponds for example with a bump and a negative mark with a pit. The mark structure between neighboring tracks is hence alternating, and the effective period of the track pitch is therefore doubled. When using an optical pick-up for reading of the data, the pick-up can focus either on tracks having positive marks, or on tracks having negative marks. The track pitch of the optical storage medium can be reduced therefore by about a factor of two for a respective pick-up, without changing the design of the pick-up. When using a Blu-Ray type pick-up, the track pitch between two neighboring tracks can be reduced therefore below its optical resolution limit of 280 nm, for example to a value within a range of 150 - 250 nm.

In a further aspect of the invention, the optical storage medium is a read-only optical disc and comprises a mask layer with a super resolution near field structure, wherein the tracks of the data layer are arranged as two spirals, one spiral consisting of positive marks only and the other spiral consisting of negative marks only, and wherein the

distance from one spiral to the other spiral is below the optical resolution limit of a corresponding pick-up unit .

For the production of the optical storage medium, a stamper is provided, which comprises a surface with positive and negative marks, which correspond to the respective positive and negative marks of the data layer of the optical storage medium. For the production of an optical disc having a data structure, in which the tracks are arranged in two spirals, one spiral consisting of positive marks only and the other spiral consisting of negative marks only, the stamper has a corresponding surface with two respective spirals for the production of the optical disc.

Such a stamper can be produced advantageously by producing first a glass master or a silicon master, on which first tracks are produced in an upper layer having positive marks, and in further steps tracks are produced in a lower layer having negative marks. A metal master for a stamper production can be produced by arranging negative marks in a metal substrate, and arranging positive marks in a layer above the metal substrate. With such a glass master or metal master a stamper can be produced in the usual way, having a track pitch between the two spirals in particular within a range of 150 - 250 nm.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the invention are explained now in more detail below by way of example with reference to schematic drawings, which show:

Fig. 1 a part of an optical storage medium in a cross section, showing a layer structure comprising a substrate, a data layer and layer with a super resolution near field structure,

Fig. 2 the data layer of figure 1, having a mark/space structure with positive and negative marks,

Fig. 3 a first method for producing a first non-metal master for a stamper production, Fig. 4 a second method for producing a second non-metal master for a stamper production and Fig. 5 a third method for producing a metal master for a stamper production.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In Fig. 1 a read-only optical storage medium 1 is shown in a cross section in a simplified manner. On a substrate 2 a read-only data layer 3 is arranged comprising a reflective metallic layer, for example an aluminum layer, data layer 3 having a data structure consisting of marks and spaces arranged on essentially parallel tracks. On the data layer 3 a first dielectric layer 5 is arranged and on the dielectric layer 5 a mask layer 4 is arranged for providing a super-resolution near-field effect (Super-RENS) . The optical storage medium 1 is in particular an optical disc having a size similar to DVDs and CDs for example.

Above the mask layer 4 a second dielectric layer 5 is arranged. As a further layer, a cover layer 6 is arranged on the second dielectric layer 5 as a protective layer. For reading the data of the data layer 3, a laser beam is applied from the top of the storage medium 1, penetrating first the cover layer 6. The first and second dielectric layers 5 comprise for example the material ZnS-SiO ₂ . The substrate 2 and the cover layer 6 may consist of a plastic material, as known from DVDs and CDs. In other embodiments, the reflective metallic layer may be omitted, when a super- resolution near field structure is used, which does not provide an increase in transmittance due to a heating effect, but works with another Super-RENS effect.

With the Super-RENS effect, the resolution of an optical pick-up can be increased in track direction by a considerable amount, for example by a factor of three or

four. This allows a reduction the size of the marks and spaces of the tracks on the optical disc in track direction. But the Super-RENS effect as such does not allow to reduce the track pitch below the optical resolution limit of the pick-up unit. If a push-pull effect is used for the tracking regulation of the optical pick-up unit, the reduction of the track pitch is limited by the fact that the first order refracted beams have to be collected by the objective lens. Otherwise there is no push-pull signal, because this signal is generated by the interference of the 0 ^th order and the 1 ^st order beams as reflected from the optical storage medium. For a Blu-Ray pick-up this occurs at a track pitch of about 280 nm, the standard track pitch of a Blu-Ray disc is 320 nm.

To overcome this problem, the pit structure of the data layer 3 is inverted for every second track, as shown in figure 2. The tracks Tl - T4 comprise positive and negative marks, which are alternating from one track to the next track, such that a first track Tl comprises positive marks PM being consistent with or resembling bumps, and the neighboring second track T2 comprises negative marks NM being consistent with pits. The positive marks and the negative marks are representing always a logical "1" and the spaces between the marks a logical "0" of the data structure of the tracks T1-T4.

By using such a data structure with inverted pits for every neighboring track, the effective period of the track pitch is doubled, and therefore a push-pull signal can be seen, even when the track pitch is reduced by a factor of two between two neighboring tracks with regard to a conventional Blu-Ray ROM disc. A conventional Blu-Ray ROM disc may have either positive marks resembling pits or negative marks resembling bumps, but never a mixture of both bumps and pits for marks. For a Blu-Ray type disc, the track pitch can be reduced therefore up to about 160 nm,

because the resolution limit is reduced from 280 nm to 140 nm.

The tracks Tl - T4 of the optical storage medium as shown in figures 1 and 2, which represent only a small section of the optical storage medium 1, are arranged in a preferred embodiment in particular as two spirals Sl, S2, one spiral Sl consisting of positive marks PM and spaces only and the neighboring spiral S2 consisting of negative marks NM and spaces only.

For producing a ROM optical storage medium, in particular a disc, having a track structure as explained with regard to figure 2, a stamper is required, which comprises also tracks with a corresponding alternating reverted/non- inverted pit structure, but with pits and bumps being inverted with regard to the mark/space structure of the ROM storage medium to be produced: For producing pits at respective locations of a ROM disc, the surface of the stamper has to have a respective bump of the same size for the respective locations.

A first non-metal master for a stamper production for producing a ROM optical storage medium with a structured data layer as described with regard to figure 2 can be manufactured for example by using a first method, as explained with regard to figure 3. In figure 3a a part of a plate PLIa is shown in a cross section comprising a non- metal substrate 10, which is covered by a positive photoresist PPl, and which is covered by a negative photoresist NPl. The substrate 10 is for example a glass substrate or a silicon (Si), or a SiO ₂ substrate. The photoresists PPl and NPl should have the following properties: A first, liquid solvent usable to remove the resist NPl should not effect the resist PPl, and a second, liquid solvent usable to remove the resist PPl should not effect the photoresist NPl.

In a first step, figure 3b, the negative photoresist NPl is illuminated with a mastering machine for producing positive marks 7, which resemble in particular bumps PM, as shown in figure 2. After the illumination, the negative photoresist NPl comprises a data structure for a first spiral S3, as indicated with the plate PLIb in figure 3b. In a next step, the first solvent is applied on the plate PLIb to remove the negative photoresist NPl at non-exposed areas. As a result, a plate PLlc is obtained comprising a first spiral S3 consisting of positive marks with bumps 7 and spaces, as illustrated in figure 3c.

In a further step, figure 3d, the positive photoresist PPl is illuminated with a mastering machine to produce negative marks resembling in particular pits NM, as shown in figure 2, for a second spiral S4. As a result, the layer with the positive photoresist PPl comprises a data structure, as indicated in a simplified manner in figure 3d, plate PLId. In a next step, the second solvent is applied to remove the positive photoresist PPl at the exposed areas. As a result, a plate PLIe is obtained comprising a second spiral S4 with negative marks, respectively pits 8, as shown in figure 3e. The plate PLIe comprises now a data structure including two spirals S3, S4 for the production of a ROM disc in a known manner. The plate PLIe can be used for example as a stamper or for the production of a stamper, as known.

A second method for producing a second non-metal master for a stamper production for producing a ROM optical storage medium comprising a data structure in accordance with figure 2 is explained now with regard to figure 4. In figure 4a, a plate PL2a is shown comprising a substrate 20, which is covered by a material M2, which is not photosensitive, but solvable in a liquid solvent, referred to as fifth solvent. The substrate 20 is for example a glass substrate or a silicon (Si), or a SiO ₂ substrate. The material M2 is covered by a negative photoresist NP2. In a first step, the plate PL2a with the negative photoresist

NP2 is illuminated with a mastering machine for producing positive marks 7, as shown in figure 4b. After the illumination, the third solvent is applied to remove the negative photoresist NP2 at non-exposed areas. The result is shown in figure 4c. The third solvent should not effect the material M2, which therefore still completely covers the glass substrate 20.

In a further step, the plate PL2c with the positive mark 7 as shown in figure 4c is coated with a positive photoresist PP2, to obtain a plate PL2d. Then the plate PL2d with the photoresist PP2 is illuminated with a mastering machine to produce tracks with negative marks 8 between the tracks with the positive marks 7, as shown in figure 4d. Then a fourth solvent is applied to remove the positive photoresist PP2 at the exposed areas. The result, plate PL2e, is shown in figure 4e.

Then an etching process is applied to remove the non- covered part of the material M2 by using a fifth solvent . The fifth, etching solvent is selected such, that it does not affect the positive photoresist PP2. As a result, pits 8 are obtained in the material M2, giving plate PL2f, as shown in figure 4f. In a final step, a sixth solvent is used to remove the remaining parts of the positive photoresist PP2, and as a result, a glass master PL2g is obtained as shown in figure 4g, from which a stamper for a production of read-only optical storage media in accordance with figure 2 can be produced.

The positive marks 7 of the plate P12g, and correspondingly the negative marks 8, have a wide track pitch of about 300 - 500 nm, which allows in particular a tracking regulation for respective optical storage media by using a pick-up unit comprising a Blu-Ray system optics. The track pitch between tracks with negative pits 7 and positive pits 8 is then within a range of 150 - 250 nm, below the optical resolution limit of a Blu-Ray pick-up. By using a stamper

produced with this method, therefore ROM discs comprising an increased data density of about a factor of two in radial dimension can be manufactured therefore.

The photoresists NP2, PP2 and the material M2 must have the following properties: The third solvent used to remove photoresist NP2 should not affect material M2. The fourth solvent used to remove the illuminated part of photoresist PP2 could partly resolve material M2. The fifth solvent used to etch material M2 should not affect photoresist PP2. The sixth solvent used to remove the non-illuminated part of photoresist PP2 should not effect substrate 20, material M2 and the positive marks 7 of photoresist NP2.

The advantage of this method in comparison with the method as described with regard to figure 3 is that more freedom is obtained for using different photoresists and different materials M2. Particularly, it is not required that the material M2 is photosensitive. For the material M2 and for the substrate 20 for example glass, SiO ₂ , or Si can be used. Further, it is in principle possible to leave out material M2. In this case the pits 8 are etched directly into the substrate 20.

A method for producing a metal master for a stamper production for producing a ROM optical storage medium comprising a data structure in accordance with figure 2 is explained with regard to figure 5. With this method, also a spiral comprising positive pits and a neighboring spiral comprising negative pits are produced in several consecutive steps. The production of the master starts with a plate PL3a comprising a non-metal substrate 30, for example a glass substrate or a silicon (Si) or SiO ₂ substrate, which is covered with a negative photoresist NP3. In a first step, the photoresist NP3 of the plate PL3a is illuminated with a mastering machine to produce positive marks 8, as shown in figure 5b. After the illumination, a seventh solvent is applied to remove the photoresist NP3 at

non-exposed areas for producing the marks 8 resembling bumps, as shown in figure 5c. The track pitch between the positive marks 8 is for example within a range of 300 nm - 500 nm.

Then a sputtering and electroplating method is used to make a metal master, for example a nickel master, by covering the plate PL3c with a metal ME, as shown in figure 5d, plate PL3d. Then in a next step the substrate 30 together with the remaining photoresist NP3 of the marks 8 is removed, by using the same principle as in conventional mastering. Then a metal substrate MEl is obtained including negative marks 9, respectively pits 9, comprising pre ^¬ recorded information, which correspond with the positive marks 8 of plate PL3c.

The metal substrate MEl is then used as a substrate for the manufacturing of a metal master. In a next step, the metal substrate MEl is covered with a very thin layer, for example of 1 - 5 nm, to improve the adhesion of a photoresist and to reduce a chemical reaction between the metal substrate MEl and the photoresist. Then the metal master MEl is covered with a negative photoresist NP4 similar to the photoresist NP3, to obtain plate PL3e, figure 5e. In a further step, the photoresist NP4 of the plate PL3e is illuminated with a mastering machine to produce tracks with positive marks 7, as shown in figure 5f. In a further step, an eighth solvent is applied to remove the negative photoresist NP4 at non-exposed areas, to obtain tracks with positive marks 7 respectively bumps, as shown in figure 5g.

As a result, a metal master ME2 is obtained, plate PL3g, from which a stamper can be produced in the same way as it is done in the master-stamper replication for a "Father" - a "Mother" and a "Son" stamper. The final stamper has advantageously a small track pitch between positive marks 7 and negative marks 9, for example of 150nm - 250nm. As the

metal ME in particular nickel may be used, but other metals or alloys can be used also. The tracks with the positive marks 7 and negative marks 9 are arranged in particular as two spirals, a first spiral comprising only positive marks 7 and a second spiral comprising only negative marks 9.

After the production of the plate PLIb, PL2b or PL3d, it may be necessary to take the plate PLIb, PL2b or PL3d out of the mastering machine to obtain the plate PLIb, PL2b or the metal substrate MEl. When the plate PLIb, PL2b or the metal substrate MEl is put back into the mastering machine, it is essential to precisely realign the plate PLIb, PL2b or the metal substrate MEl. This may be achieved by using the pits 7 on plate PLIb or PL2b or the pits 9 generated in the metal substrate MEl: i.e. for the method shown in figure 5 the existing pits produce a push-pull signal that can be used to precisely align the mastering beam for producing the new marks 7 respectively bumps in the middle between the existing pits 8. Additionally a PLL based on the data signal of the pits 9 can be used to stabilize the linear velocity during the mastering of the new marks 7. This might reduce the pit length variation and therefore the related jitter contribution.

It has to be mentioned that for super-RENS ROM discs the optimum geometry can be different for positive and negative marks, respectively pits and bumps. This might depend on the exact physical phenomenon generating the super-RENS effect. Under such conditions it can be useful to optimize the depth respectively height and geometry of the positive and negative marks individually by using different thicknesses of the photo resists or the materials: NPl and PPl, see figure 3 NP2 and M2, see figure 4, and NP3 and NP4 see figure 5, and/or use different writing strategies during mastering. Further, in some cases it might be advantageous to use different wavelengths for mastering the positive and negative marks.

The method as described with regard to figure 5 has the advantage that only negative photoresists NP3, NP4 have to be used. In principle the same photoresist can be used for photoresists NP3 and NP4. No special restrictions are needed for the two photoresists NP3 and NP4 regarding the solvability in the seventh and eighth solvents, as necessary with regard to the solvents used in the first and second method. The only restriction with regard to the seventh, respectively eighth solvent is that they should not affect the substrate 30 and the metal substrate MEl. Further, instead of Ni also other metals or metal alloys may be used.

Also other embodiments of the invention can be made by a person skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The invention may be utilized particularly not only for read-only (ROM) optical storage media, as described in the embodiments, but also for writable and re-writable optical storage media. The methods as described before are in particular usable for a production of a Super-RENS optical disc as described with regard to figure 1, but may be used also for example for production of Blu-Ray type discs. The invention resides therefore in the claims herein after appended.