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Organic dyes provide breakthrough in DVD technology
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Organic dyes provide breakthrough in DVD technology In a joint project, Swiss company Clariant and Toshiba Corporation of Japan report that they have achieved a breakthrough in the development of the new generation of DVDs: highdensity, recordable-once duallayer HD DVD-Rs (HighDefinition recordable DVDs) based on organic dyes, with a storage capacity of 30GB. The companies say that based on their knowledge in singlelayer recording HD DVD-R organic dye technology, they have developed highly
advanced functional organic dyes for both recording layers L0 and L1 that are required in dual-layer disks and significantly increase the disk storage capacity for this new disk type. The dyes are said to offer very high reflectivity, good transmittance, high thermal conductivity, as well as the high sensitivity required for this technology. HD DVD-R DL has already been discussed in the DVD Forum; it is expected that the final specification will be released this year.
Plastics Additives & Compounding September/October 2005
Clariant says that it will introduce the new dyes for HD DVD-R in the Optofast® range and already started to promote them among disk manufacturers all over the world. The new HD DVD-R disks based on organic dyes with 15GB/30GB are claimed to be the next solution in optical recording technology, turning personal computers into real entertainment devices. In the past years, there has been an increasing demand for higher recording density of optical information media. The recent spread of networks, such as the Internet, and the emergence of high-definition television (HDTV) broadcasting require low-cost and convenient recording media that are capable of recording image information at increased capacity. By employing a blue diode laser with a wavelength of 405 nm, the HD DVD can increase the data storage of up to 45 Gigabytes, almost 10 times higher than the current singlesided DVD with only 4.7 Gigabytes capacity. With 15GB for a single-layer disk and 30GB for dual-layer disk, the new HD DVD-R can hold more than one 4-hour complete high-definition quality movie. With the movie industry having declared its support for the HD DVD format, the road is free for the new generation of HD DVD-R disk media. The new disk age is to begin at
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the end of 2005, when the first HD DVD players and PC drives will be brought to market. Both DVD and HD DVD are based on the same disk structure, back-to-back bonding of two 0.6millimeter-thick substrates, with the result that already existing DVD-R manufacturing equipment can be switched to HD DVD-R production. Hence manufacturers can make full use of current production facilities and minimize their additional investment costs. The use of organic dyes for these disks is claimed to be very cost-efficient by using the economical spin-coating process for the recording layer. This will allow manufacturers to produce at costs close to those for current DVDs with even lower cost per Gigabyte and offer the new disk on the market at a reasonable price. 1.4 billion recordable and rewritable DVD disks were produced in 2004, 90% of them write-once disks. It is to be expected that the next generation HD DVD-R, with its improved audio-visual quality and storage capacity, will be just as big a market. Contact: Clariant GmbH Tel: +49 6196 757 8130 Fax: +49 6196 757 8862 E-mail: stefanie.nehlsen@ clariant.com Website: www.pa.clariant.com
News
Organic dyes provide breakthrough in DVD technology In a joint project, Swiss company Clariant and Toshiba Corporation of Japan report that they have achieved a breakthrough in the development of the new generation of DVDs: highdensity, recordable-once duallayer HD DVD-Rs (HighDefinition recordable DVDs) based on organic dyes, with a storage capacity of 30GB. The companies say that based on their knowledge in singlelayer recording HD DVD-R organic dye technology, they have developed highly
advanced functional organic dyes for both recording layers L0 and L1 that are required in dual-layer disks and significantly increase the disk storage capacity for this new disk type. The dyes are said to offer very high reflectivity, good transmittance, high thermal conductivity, as well as the high sensitivity required for this technology. HD DVD-R DL has already been discussed in the DVD Forum; it is expected that the final specification will be released this year.
Plastics Additives & Compounding September/October 2005
Clariant says that it will introduce the new dyes for HD DVD-R in the Optofast® range and already started to promote them among disk manufacturers all over the world. The new HD DVD-R disks based on organic dyes with 15GB/30GB are claimed to be the next solution in optical recording technology, turning personal computers into real entertainment devices. In the past years, there has been an increasing demand for higher recording density of optical information media. The recent spread of networks, such as the Internet, and the emergence of high-definition television (HDTV) broadcasting require low-cost and convenient recording media that are capable of recording image information at increased capacity. By employing a blue diode laser with a wavelength of 405 nm, the HD DVD can increase the data storage of up to 45 Gigabytes, almost 10 times higher than the current singlesided DVD with only 4.7 Gigabytes capacity. With 15GB for a single-layer disk and 30GB for dual-layer disk, the new HD DVD-R can hold more than one 4-hour complete high-definition quality movie. With the movie industry having declared its support for the HD DVD format, the road is free for the new generation of HD DVD-R disk media. The new disk age is to begin at
16
the end of 2005, when the first HD DVD players and PC drives will be brought to market. Both DVD and HD DVD are based on the same disk structure, back-to-back bonding of two 0.6millimeter-thick substrates, with the result that already existing DVD-R manufacturing equipment can be switched to HD DVD-R production. Hence manufacturers can make full use of current production facilities and minimize their additional investment costs. The use of organic dyes for these disks is claimed to be very cost-efficient by using the economical spin-coating process for the recording layer. This will allow manufacturers to produce at costs close to those for current DVDs with even lower cost per Gigabyte and offer the new disk on the market at a reasonable price. 1.4 billion recordable and rewritable DVD disks were produced in 2004, 90% of them write-once disks. It is to be expected that the next generation HD DVD-R, with its improved audio-visual quality and storage capacity, will be just as big a market. Contact: Clariant GmbH Tel: +49 6196 757 8130 Fax: +49 6196 757 8862 E-mail: stefanie.nehlsen@ clariant.com Website: www.pa.clariant.com