Pioneer to produce 50GB Blu-ray technique with electron beam

April 2, 2004

GristyMcFisty used our news submit to tell us
that Pioneer has announced it has jointly developed a high precision electron
beam recoder (EBR) that should result in 50 GB Blu-ray discs on one side on 12
cm. (CD/DVD size) discs. The company is using an electron beam instead of the
conventional laser beam to record information to the disc.

The density
of the data is increased by using this technique and therefor more data can be
stored. The development of the technology already started in 1993 and can also
potentially be used for higher density hard disks. Now the demand for this kind
of technology seems to be growing the company has decided to launch the
technology and use it outside it's R&D labs.

Pioneer
FA expects that the market will expand and plans on promoting the
development of next generation EBRs to realize even higher-density
recording together with Pioneer.

Main Features:

Stable electron beam emission with a large
current by utilizing a thermal/field type emitter.

Large, high-density recording capacity of
50GB or more on one side of a 12 cm disc.

High track-pitch accuracy.

High productivity with a load-lock
chamber

Main Specifications:

Electron beam
emitter: Thermal/field emission type
Acceleration
voltage: 50kV

Modulation speed: 6ns or lower
(10% to 90%)

Beam deflector: 2-stage,
bi-directional, 10ns or lower (10% to 90%)

Objective lens aperture: 4
positions selectable

Beam diameter/Beam
current: 80nm/90nA or more

Spindle motor: Vacuum seal air
spindle motor

Rotation speed: 60rpm -
2,400rpm

Substrate: Silicone wafer (max.
8 inches)

Focus control: Optical height sensor
(range: +/-250micon)

Stage position sensor: Laser
interferometer (resolution ability:
0.6nm

More information about this technology can be found in the Pioneer
Press Release. For all the Pioneer groupies we have a special Pioneer forum where you're also welcome to discuss this
technology.

Source: Japancorp.net