Sputtering target, method of producing the target, optical recording medium fabricated by using the sputtering target, and method of forming recording layer for the optical recording medium

Abstract

A sputtering target contains a target material including as constituent elements Ag, In, Te and Sb with the respective atomic percents (atom. %) of α, β, γ and δ thereof being in the relationship of 0.5≦α<8, 5≦β≦23, 17≦γ≦38, 32≦δ≦73, α≦β, and α+β+γ+δ=100, and a method of producing the above sputtering target is provided. An optical recording medium includes a recording layer containing a phase-change recording material which includes as constituent elements Ag, In, Te and Sb with the respective atomic percents of α, β, γ and δ thereof being in the relationship of 1≦α<6, 7≦β≦20, 20≦γ≦35, 35≦δ≦70, and α+β+γ+δ=100, and is capable of recording and erasing information by utilizing the phase change of the recording material in the recording layer. A method of forming the above recording layer for the optical recording medium is also provided. In addition, there is provided an optical recording method using the above-mentioned phase-change optical recording medium.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.