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AssigneeNippon Mining & Metals Co., Ltd.
InventorsHideo Hosono, Kazushige Ueda, Masataka Yahagi, Hideo Takami
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A sputtering target is provided that has a relative density of 80% or more and contains a compound having as its principal component zinc oxide satisfying AXBYO(KaX+KbY)/2(ZnO)m, 1<m, X≦m, 0<Y≦0.9, X+Y=2, where A and B are respectively different positive elements of trivalence or more, and the valencies thereof are respectively Ka and Kb. A ZnO based sputtering target is obtained which does not contain ZnS and SiO2, and, upon forming a film via sputtering, is capable of reducing the affect of heating the substrate, of performing high speed deposition, of adjusting the film thickness to be thin, of reducing the generation of particles (dust) and nodules during sputtering, of improving the productivity with small variation in quality, and which has fine crystal grains and a high density of 80% or more, particUlarly 90% or more.
A method of manufacturing a thin film for an optical information recording medium comprising the step of forming a thin film via direct current sputtering of a sputtering target that has a relative density of 90% or more and that contains a compound having as its principal component zinc oxide satisfying AXByO(KaX+KbY)/2(ZnO)m, where 1<m, X≦m, 0<Y≦0.9, and X+Y=2, and where A and B are respectively different positive elements of trivalence or more, and the valencies thereof are respectively Ka and Kb, and wherein a range of variation of positive elements other than zinc in the target is within 0.5% and a range of variation of density in the target is within 3%.
A thin film for an optical information recording medium prepared by a process comprising the step of forming the thin film by sputtering a sputtering target that is a sintered compact of powder having an average grain size of 1 μm or less before sintering, that has a relative density of 90% or more, and that contains a compound having as its principal component zinc oxide satisfying AXBYO(KaX+KbY)/2(ZnO)m, wherein 1<m, X≦m, 0<Y≦0.9, and X+Y=2, and where A and B are respectively different positive elements of trivalence or more, and the valencies thereof are respectively Ka and Kb, and wherein a range of variation of positive elements other than zinc in the target is within 0.5% and a range of variation of density in the target is within 3%.
A thin film for being located adjacent a reflective layer or a recording layer of an optical information recording medium, comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.