Confocal spectromicroscopy of amorphous and nanocrystalline tungsten oxide films

A Raman confocal spectromicroscopic system was used to study in situ phase composition and surface morphology in amorphous and nanocrystalline tungsten oxide and tungstate thin films, prepared on silicon and glass substrates by dc magnetron co-sputtering technique. The possible use of these films for the phase-change optical recording was demonstrated using 442 nm He–Cd laser with a variable power of up to 50 mW. The formation of nanocrystalline tungsten trioxide or tungstate phases was observed under the laser irradiation. These nanocrystalline phases show relatively strong Raman activity, which can be used for information reading purposes. A multilayer structure composed of several tungstate films with different chemical composition is proposed as potential write-once optical recording media.