CD-R MANUFACTURING--A LOOK AT HOW IT'S DONE

CD-Rs are constructed of a series of layers, which are built upon a plastic substrate. The manufacturing process for CD-Rs is slightly different from that used to manufacture conventional compact discs. The following information outlines the key CD-R manufacturing technologies.

PROCESS MATERIAL KEY TECHNOLOGY FUNCTION ON DISC
Mastering Glass Substrage Laser Cutting Glass Master
Plating Electroplating Stamper
Injection Molding Polycarbonate* Stamping w/ Grooves Substrate
Spin Coating Dye** Thickness Control** Recording Layer
Sputtering Gold Thickness Control Reflective Layer
Spin Coating Lacquer Thickness Control / UV Curing Protective Layer
Lot Printing Ink Ink-Jet Printing Disc Identification
Label Printing UV-Curable Ink UV Curing TDK Brand Info.
Inspection
Packaging


*Stamping the CD-R with a groove is required because the track pitch can be as narrow as

1.6 µm. Because of this narrow track pitch, The groove is needed to act as a "light guide" for the higher power lasers used in CD writers operating at a CLV, or constant linear velocity.

**Spin-coating of the dye layer is controlled to create a recording layer just 0.2 µm thick!