Wily, that first fire pulse is analogous to the initialization IMO
& varies with the chalcogenide material that is being set. The way I understand it is that the crystallization is set by heat to a level that allows for quick melt (writing) but also just below the annealing temp, the closer the better I suppose since less heat needed for phase change would yield faster phase changes.
I was puzzled too by the dielectric and at first assumed that these layers acted as insulators surrounding the chalcogenide recording layer, but rereading the explanations, they are described as layers that draw off the heat from the recording layer. This may be to prevent unintended phase change of areas next to targeted spot giving cleaner writes/rewrites on the media, whatever, it seems to work <g>
The embossing info came from someone in the injection/compression molding industry to whom I owe much thanks. Those metal foils allowing for precise submicron changes in the polycarb under molding pressure amazed me.
31MM disks, have you checked the price for a DVD-RAM disk, I think it is north of $20 retail. Also, I am guessing these machines are not going to be as big as the PV machine... if you register with the GE Plastics site and search inside for Ovonic you'll see a picture of a guy in a gown next to some machinery that doesn't look much bigger than the Swiss disk machine but the picture's contents are not identified by the text.
Microcracks,etc. .... yes the fatigue factor after multiple phase changes in the alloy. I don't know if I mentioned this but DVD-RAM and DVD+RW use GST and perhaps more than coincidentally have 100,000 rewrite cycles and
DVD-RW (with 1000 rewrites) and CD-RW (unsure how many rewrites for this) use AIST alloy. Then there is TDK with AVIST.
Extortion, mandate and destiny to change Chinese society... historically a familiar recipe.
Al |
