OPTICAL DISKS

ADVANCES IN WIDEBAND COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION HANDLINGTECHNOLOGIES HAVE CREATED A DATA STORAE AND RETRIEVAL PROBLEM WHICH WILL NO LONGER BE SATISFIED BY EVOLUTIONARY IMPROVEMENTS OF CONVENTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES. THE USE OF TELLURIUM COATED OPTICAL STORAGE DISKS FOR ABLATIVE RECORDING IS ONE OF THE MOST PROMISING APPROACHES TO THIS PROBLEM SINCE BANDWIDTH CAPABILITY AND STORAGE CAPACITY WOULD BOTH BE IMPROVED BY MANY ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE. (1) THE TENDENCY OF TELLURIUM FILMS TO OXIDIZE, HOWEVER, LIMITS THEIR USE UNLESS A SUITABLE PROTECTIVE COATING CAN BE FOUND. HARD TRANSPARENT CARBON FILMS HAVE BEEM ATTEMPTEDBUT TELLURIUM FILM DAMAGE AND VERY SLOW DEPOSITION RATES LIMIT THIS APPROACH. (5) IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT A CUBIC BORON NITRIDE HERMETIC COATING APPLIED WITH SPIRE'S HIGH DEPOSITION RATE PLASMA ION EQUIPMENT WILL PROVIDE THE REQUIRED ARCHIVAL PROTECTION, IN A COST EFFECTIVE MANNER, WITH MINIMAL DAMAGE TO THE TELLURIUM LAYER.