Improvement in Jitter Characteristics in Mark Edge Recording for Phase Change Media

Abstract

This paper describes improvement in jitter characteristics in mark edge recording (MER) for phase change media at a high linear velocity. Jitter of the mark edge position, usually caused by thermal and/or intersymbol interference, can also increase due to overwrite when MER is used with phase change media. We have found that the main cause of jitter increase due to overwrite is the difference in absorptivity between the amorphous and the crystalline states. We were able to reduce jitter significantly by controlling absorptivity through the use of a Si reflective layer. It was also confirmed that this improvement in jitter characteristics can achieve high recording density of 0.59 µm/bit.