Improvement on the cyclability and stability of Ag–In–Sb–Te based compact disc by introduction of nitrogen and germanium

In this paper, to improve the cyclability and stability of the Ag–In–Sb–Te based compact disc, either nitrogen or germanium was introduced for control of the phase change temperature and activation energy, respectively. Our results showed that the amount of nitrogen existed in the atom form in the deposited films has a strong and complicated dependence on the deposition parameters, meanwhile, the amount of Ge incorporated in the films increased with the increasing sputtering power. By optimizing the deposition conditions the amount of voids in the films can be eliminated nearly and the phase change temperature can be controlled, finally the cyclability and stability have been much improved.