White Paper: Archival Disc Technology

White Paper:
Archival Disc Technology
2nd Edition
January 2020

White Paper: Archival Disc Technology

Content
Content ........................................................................................................................................................................... 1

1.

Introduction.............................................................................................................................................................. 2

2.

Optical Disc Technology ......................................................................................................................................... 4

3.

Archival Disc Technology ........................................................................................................................................ 5

4

5

3.1

Archival Disc Roadmap ................................................................................................................................... 5

3.2

Disc Structure .................................................................................................................................................. 6

3.3

New Recording Material .................................................................................................................................. 6

3.4

Physical Format ............................................................................................................................................... 7

3.5

Logical Format ................................................................................................................................................. 9

3.6

Signal Quality Measurement ......................................................................................................................... 11

3.7

Specifications for 500 GB AD ........................................................................................................................ 11

Long-term Archiving .............................................................................................................................................. 14

4.1

Media Lifetime ............................................................................................................................................... 14

4.2

Disc Tilt and Its Variation in Response to Temperature Changes ................................................................ 15

The Future ............................................................................................................................................................. 16

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White Paper Archival Disc Technology
1. Introduction
Due to widespread network environments and improved computer processing speeds, audio, still images, and video arebeing produced at an ever-increasing speed, to the point where the American IT research company IDC predicts that the
total global volume of data produced and stored will reach 44 ZB (zettabytes; ZB = 1021 Bytes) by the year 2020 (Fig. 1).
Recently, IDC also reports that the total global volume of data will grow even further to 163 ZB by the year 2025 (Fig.2).
Thus an ever-growing need to archive this burgeoning volume of data for the purposes of compliance, academic research,preservation of cultural assets, and providing new value through data analysis. On the other hand, as data archiving
involves a significant cost burden, it can be argued that data centers that handle large volumes of data are faced with aparticularly strong need to reduce the cost of storage (initial and operational costs). Optical discs represent a highly
promising form of storage media to suit this demand, but in order to truly fulfill the needs of these data centers in future, itwill be indispensable to increase disc capacity.

Figure 1. Predicted volume of data produced and stored globally in 2020
Source:

IDC's Digital Universe, The Digital Universe of Opportunities: Rich Data and the Increasing Valueof the Internet of Things, sponsored by EMC (April 2014)

Figure 2. Predicted volume of data produced and stored globally
Source： IDC’s Data Age 2025 study, sponsored by Seagate (April 2017)

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White Paper Archival Disc Technology
As data centers choose to archive data on storage media with a short lifespan, investment required to continually migrate
this data to upgraded media becomes considerable and ultimately puts a strain on data center’s business. However, opticaldiscs can be used to safely archive data for over 50 years without any need for data migration, allowing data centers to
supply their services at lower costs.
Many data centers are eliminating air conditioning with the aim of serving as ‘green data centers’ with a low environmental
burden and reduced operational costs. Optical discs offer high performance and help satisfy the needs of these ‘green data
centers.’ Figure 3 shows the average air temperature and relative humidity in major cities around the world. Optical discs
are capable of storing data for over 50 years in any kind of environment represented by the blue shaded area on the
diagram. As such, optical discs enable realization of eco-friendly data centers with lower operational costs in any city
around the world.

Figure 3. Average temperature and relative humidity of major global cities

Since optical discs use laser-based, non-contact optical process to write and read data, covering the data recording surface
with protective film makes it possible to achieve high environmental durability without any loss of writing or reading
performance. Two examples are given below to illustrate environmental durability of optical discs.
First is resistance to seawater. Even after an optical disc containing data is immersed in seawater for a period of five weeks,data can be accessed without any problems by simply washing and then drying the disc.
Second is resistance to solar storms. Data recording on optical discs does not use electromagnetism, so stored data is
entirely unaffected by geomagnetic events.
In summary, optical discs are a highly promising form of storage media that meets data center needs, including low
environmental burden, low operational costs, and high durability. This White Paper describes the Archival Disc (AD), a new
optical disc which achieves greater data capacity in addition to the properties above.

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White Paper Archival Disc Technology
2. Optical Disc Technology
Optical disc industry is one in which Japan has led the world, evolving as music and video products developed from
Compact Disc (CD) to Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) and Blu-ray Disc™.
First time a 12-cm optical disc entered the market came with the release of CD on October 1, 1982. CD spread around theworld as a handy means of enjoying high-quality music. At that time, basic software for personal computers required tens offloppy disks, but when it could be supplied on a single CD-ROM instead, optical disc quickly became a ubiquitous presencein the IT field.
Initial discussions for successor to CD were centered on their usage in AV field, including video information such as movies.
But in light of CD market, it was subsequently considered essential that any new optical disc should cover both AV and IT
usage, and that capacity therefore be increased to facilitate recording of video content. This led to the creation of DVD, forwhich laser wavelength was shortened from infrared to red, while numerical aperture (N.A.) of objective was raised to 0.60
to reduce spot size for recording and playback. Meanwhile, mark size and track pitch were reduced to enable high-density
recording. With development of single-sided, double-layer discs, maximum capacity was increased to 9 GB.
With Blu-ray Disc™, laser wavelength was further shortened to blue-violet and the N.A. of objective was raised to 0.85 toproduce a recording capacity that is approximately five-fold that of a DVD. Blu-ray Disc™ recording capacity has now
reached a maximum of 200 GB per disc thanks to the use of double-sided, triple-layer discs (Fig. 4). Meanwhile, reduced
data bit length has meant that Blu-ray Disc™ is comfortably able to achieve a transfer rate suitable for recording andplayback of digital HD video, even at the same revolution speed as a DVD.

Figure 4. CD, DVD, Blu-ray Disc™ playback spot and recording mark shapes

Process of optical disc evolution from CD to DVD and Blu-ray Disc™ has always allowed backward compatibility—DVD
recorders/players are compatible with CD, while Blu-ray Disc™ recorders/players are compatible with CD and
DVD—meaning that customers have been able to upgrade to the new standard without any loss of convenience. Panasonic
Corporation and Sony Corporation are now able to announce details of Archival Disc (AD) standard developed by the twocompanies to extend this optical disc evolution into new fields of application and enable stable, high-speed recording andplayback of ever-greater volumes of digital data.

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White Paper Archival Disc Technology
3. Archival Disc Technology
3.1 Archival Disc Roadmap
The roadmap for the AD standard is illustrated in Figure 5. The first-generation, with a recording capacity of 300 GB per
disc, was launched to the market in 2015. The second-generation, with a recording capacity of 500 GB per disc, has atarget launch after fall 2018. Panasonic and Sony will then utilize mutual respective technologies to expand the discrecording capacity to over 1 TB as the third-generation. The technologies to be adopted for each generation of disc aredescribed below.
(1) 1st generation: Double-sided, triple-layer disc technology; narrow track pitch crosstalk-cancelling technology
A land-and-groove recording method has been deployed, in which signals can be recorded both on guide grooves and on landarea between grooves, resulting in greater track density. Crosstalk noise generated between adjacent tracks is cancelled out by
newly-developed crosstalk-cancelling technology to ensure sufficient playback signal quality without read errors.
(2) 2nd generation: 1st generation + high-density inter-symbol interference elimination technology
Next-generation inter-symbol interference elimination technology will be fitted to drives to rectify reduced playback spot
resolution caused by higher recording density. Burden on device development, including optical and disc technology, will beminimized and the disc capacity increased to 500 GB.
(3) 3rd generation: 2nd generation + a multiple-level recording/playback technology
A multiple-level recording/playback technology and high SNR optical technology will be adopted to raise disc capacity toover 1 TB.
Over the course of each generation, disc capacity will be raised without changing base optical parameters or three-layer discstructure, making it easier to minimize disc manufacturing costs and ensure drive system’s backward compatibility. New discmaterials will be developed with greater reliability and higher SNR, helping to increase capacity in each generation and thus
enable high-precision recording suitable for archiving.

Figure 5. Archival Disc Roadmap

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White Paper Archival Disc Technology
3.2 Disc Structure
AD has a double-sided structure, which gives it a capacity double that of a single-sided disc, and with three layers per side
(Fig. 6). This structure has been established in conventional optical discs and is already commercialized. A spiral data track
on one side has opposite rotational direction to the one on the other side.

This configuration makes it possible to record

and/or playback simultaneously on both sides, which gives double the transfer rate achieved with one-sided recording or
playback. Address structure, which has been developed for the AD format, is maintained in the 2nd generation, with arecording capacity of 500 GB per disc. It will be also maintained in the 3rd generation, so that the disc manufacturing
process will not have to be changed to retain low cost disc capability.

Figure 6. AD disc structure

3.3 New Recording Material
A simple layer structure has been newly developed for use as AD disc recording film, in which an oxidized recording
material is sandwiched by an oxidized insulator in which marks can be easily formed by laser irradiation.
Since this recording film has unique characteristic of appropriate optical absorption, a high recording velocity is possible.
Additionally, as mentioned above, all recording films use an oxidized material, allowing high storage reliability to beachieved at the same time.
There are several remarkable advantages from a disc-manufacturing perspective: this recording film has high electric
conductivity and can be sputtered by DC voltage under a relatively low vacuum. This feature enables short cycle time andallows choice of a variety of recording ingredients to reduce disc cost. Meanwhile, a second-generation AD disc conforming
to AD-Ver. 2.0 standard has a more advanced recording material having better signal amplitudes in 250 GB per side
recording.
Cover layer

t0.5mmSubstrate

Cover layer
UV lacquer
Dielectric film(O)Recording film(O)t0.5mmSubstrate

Space layer
UV lacquer

Dielectric film(O)Coverlayer
layer
Cover

Figure 7. AD disc recording film

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3.4 Physical Format
This section describes new technologies adopted for AD physical format.

(1) Land-and-groove recording technology and crosstalk-cancelling technology
AD is based on conventional optical disc technologies, with land-and-groove recording technology and crosstalk-cancelling
technology applied to maximize recording capacity of each layer. This means that radial recording density is improved by
40% in comparison with Blu-ray Discs™. A new defect management system with 3.5 Logical Format (detailed later) has
been adopted to overcome servo error signal crosstalk issues and to enable a narrow track pitch.

Blu-ray Disc™ disc

AD discFigure 8. Land-and-groove recording(2) Physical address format
A physical address has been applied to optical disc tracks in the form of a wobbled track, to be able to enable instantaccess to a designated data recording/playback position. With conventional groove track recording, only groove tracks
have a physical address, but a new format has now been adopted to obtain physical addresses for both groove tracks andland tracks, thus enabling land-and-groove recording, which is a key feature of AD. At the same time, AD physical addressformat sufficiently reduces noise caused by wobbled track to playback signal during data playback, ensuring high read
performance.

(3) Zone format system
AD uses a zone format system to control data recording density to a physical address as defined by wobbled track. Using
this system, it is possible to obtain a data address for a block of data from physical address being read that is in accordancewith a predetermined zone format. This makes it possible to record data to and playback from specific locations on disc.

(4) New recording/playback technologies and data format for the 2nd generation AD
In the second-generation AD, linear density is increased to raise disc capacity from 300 GB to 500 GB. Following
technologies were newly introduced.

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White Paper Archival Disc Technology•

Improved recording technology to form fine recording marks accurately•Inter-symbol-interference elimination technology for decoding data from weak signals•

New data format with improved linear recording efficiency by 7%•

New channel modulation code enabling lower data error rates•

Advanced error correction code

With the advanced error correction code, an error rate of less than 1E-19 can be realized after error correction. This capability is
guaranteed even when all the error correction code units have defects whose lengths are 1mm or so as long as random symbol
error rate is less than 1E-2 before error correction.

Reduced bit Cost and Future Compatibility
With conventional optical discs, data recording density could be increased by modifying disc track structure, but with ADzone format system it will be possible to realize 500 GB disc capacity by simply updating zone format parameters, without
the need to change physical address structure of the 300 GB AD disc. This means that for ADs, there will be no need tochange the format even if the recording density is increased: this contributes to a significant advantage of reducing bit unit
price. Meanwhile, the fact that physical structure of disc remains unchanged will make it easier to ensure backward
compatibility, so that data recorded on discs stored over long periods can always be accessed with high reliability usinglatest drive systems. The zone format system will also be implemented to the 1 TB AD disc in the future.

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3.5 Logical Format
3.5.1 Disc Management
AD disc adopts double-sided, triple-layer land-and-groove format, and user can treat them as large-capacity optical discs.
In addition, a reverse groove on each side enables simultaneous access to both side of disc. As it is possible to record tolands and grooves simultaneously, it is also capable to improve transfer rate by using multiple optical heads. Additionally,
as disc management adopts a single-sided closed structure, it is not dependent on drive structure, while unique logicalsector numbers (LSNs) are defined for each physical location on disc for easier playback compatibility. Defect managementand ‘logical over write’ (LOW) features are also provided so that a file system capable of controlling conventional opticaldisc will be capable of controlling AD with ease.

3.5.2 Defect Management
Defect management feature is incorporated into AD such that even if a defective block is present within user area, data canbe alternatively recorded to spare areas on inner and outer areas of disc, thereby improving data reliability.
Defect management system of AD also has new features that protect reliability of recording performance against problems
such as influence from recording state of other layers and servo error signal crosstalk variance that results from the newland-and-groove recording format. It is now possible to perform recording control using disc management only, without
actually accessing disc, thereby minimizing performance loss in recording control and maximizing ease of use by
non-specialists. In regards to the arrangement of spare areas, defect management areas and suchlike, a format has been
optimized for write-once recording, including the recording of data is sequentially, starting from the deepest layer.

3.5.3 Recording Management
With ADs, significant emphasis has been placed on ensuring compatibility with conventional write-once discs, with asequential recording mode used so that existing applications can be easily applied to AD. Like conventional optical discs,
AD also allows for multiple Sequential Recording Ranges (SRRs) to be used simultaneously. Setting multiple SRRs makes
it possible to reserve multiple writable locations on disc.
With AD, it is not necessary to fill unused portions to be able to close SRR or disc, meaning that close operation can bemade shorter than for conventional sequential recording media like DVDs. Additionally, by using Defect Management’s
linear replacement function, it is possible to perform LOW over previously-recorded user data.

3.5.4 OPC Area Management
AD allows more areas to be assigned for write power adjustment than before, and uses a structure whereby optimum power
control (OPC) areas can be optionally allocated via disc drive. By defining this OPC range information (OPCRI) within discdefinition structure (DDS), total number of available reuses is increased by at least as much as the overall capacity of discis increased.

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3.5.5 User Area Management
AD uses a triple-layer land-and-groove format. Logical sector numbers (LSNs) are allocated to user areas (volumes)
accessible to user, meaning that users can access these areas using appropriate LSN. LSN allocation method is shown in
Figure 9 below.

Figure 9. LSN allocation method

Specifically, LSNs are allocated sequentially to groove tracks of L0 layer from inner perimeter to outer perimeter, and thento land tracks of L0 layer from inner perimeter to outer perimeter. After L0, LSN are then allocated on L1 following a similar
rule in direction of outer to inner, and then again similarly to L2.
LSNs are allocated separately to user areas (logical space) on each recording side, but it is also possible to combine bothsides and treat them as a single logical space (one volume) depending on drive and its control system compatibility.

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3.6 Signal Quality Measurement
An index called ‘distribution derived-maximum likelihood sequence error estimation’ (d-MLSE) has been used for playback
signal quality evaluation in the 2nd generation AD discs. The index is based on ‘partial response maximum likelihood’(PRML) detection method same as i-MLSE for the 1st generation, but with an improved calculation procedure for higher
recording density. The index makes it possible to accurately quantify playback signal quality of the 2nd generation AD discs.
Figure 10 shows measurement results for symbol error rate (SER) and d-MLSE when various types of playback stress areapplied to a 500 GB AD disc. A strong correlation can be seen between two variables.

Figure 10. d-MLSE signal quality evaluation index and SER

3.7 Specifications for 500 GB AD
Main parameters of 500 GB AD discs are shown in Table 1 below in comparison with 300 GB AD discs. In order to facilitate
backward compatibility with Blu-ray Disc™ discs, main parameters for AD discs have been kept at the same specifications
as those for Blu-ray Discs™ (*see Blu-ray Disc™ White Paper). 300 GB AD discs have 1/1.422 times narrower track pitch,
1.055 times higher linear density, and twice the surface area due to its double-sided nature compared with 100 GB Blu-ray
Disc™ specifications.

Meanwhile, 500 GB AD discs have 1.549 times higher linear density, same track pitch, and same

double-sided structure compared with 300 GB AD specifications.

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Table 1. Main parameters of AD discs

12【Main parameters】【AD 300GB Specifications】【AD 500GB Specifications】

Disc diameter
Total nominal thickness
Double sided disc
Cover Layer thickness
Recording polarity
Recording method
Data Zone inner radius/ outer radius
Track pitch
Addressing method
Maximum user data transfer rate
Channel modulation
Error correction code
Total efficiency
Nominal Channel bit length
Nominal Data bit length
User data capacity 120mm

120mm
1.2mm
Triple Layer (TL)/Side
57.0umHigh to Low
Land & Groove
24mm/58mm
0.225um
Wobbled Grooves with addresses
359.65Mbps
17PP
64KBLDC+BIS
81.738%53.0099nm
79.5149nm
300.00572GB

110PCWA
256KB Extended-RSPC87.850%34.216nm
51.324nm
500.12357GB

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White Paper Archival Disc Technology
d-MLSE and SER specifications (defined in 3.6 Signal Quality Measurement) for each layer of 500 GB AD discs are given
in Table 2 below.

Table 2. d-MLSE and R-SER specifications for each 500 GB AD disc layer【Signal Quality Evaluation Index】
d-MLSE required for disc with Tester【Specifications】
L0 ≦14.5%
L1 ≦14.5%
L2 ≦14.5%

SER required for disc with Tester

13≦1.0E-2

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White Paper Archival Disc Technology
4 Long-term Archiving
4.1 Media Lifetime
As explained in Chapter 3.3, the recording film of AD discs has high reliability because of its extremely high oxidation resistanceand corrosion resistance.

The mark formation principle involving a physical change of the recording material also makes themedia highly reliable. Fig. 11 shows the estimated lifespan of AD discs which was derived from accelerated life tests whilereferring to ISO/IEC16963.

100 Years

Figure 11. Long-term storage reliability of AD discs

The tests were conducted under five different temperature and relative humidity conditions such as 65℃/80%, 75℃/80%, 85℃/60%, 85℃/70%, and 85℃/80% to measure times at which playback data error rates reach a criterion.
temperature dependence of the 95% survival lifetime prediction under 50% relative humidity.

The graph shows

The estimated lifespan of AD discs

with our newly-developed recording material is very satisfactory: more than 100 years at 25℃/50%.

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4.2 Disc Tilt and Its Variation in Response to Temperature Changes
AD discs have a symmetrical structure with an A-side disc and B-side disc, each approximately 0.6 mm thick, stuck
together back to back. This is a similar structure to DVD, and results in little tilt occurring after long-term storage. This helps
to prevent degradation of playback signal quality when disc is played in a drive. With discs that have a single-sided
structure, such as CDs and Blu-ray Discs™, plastic base, resin adhesive layer and recording layer are layered
unidirectionally, meaning that each layer can expand or contract in an in-plane direction at different ratios during long-term
storage. This can lead to slight deformation of top or bottom surfaces of disc, known as tilt. Since double-sided discs arelikely to undergo virtually identical warping on both sides, tilt is kept to a minimum.
This double-sided symmetrical structure is effective not only for long-term storage, but also for coping with the rise inenvironmental temperature that may occur immediately after disc is inserted into a drive. With a single-sided structure, tilt
can readily occur in disc, due simply to temperature rise in drive bay when drive starts up. This can lead to faults such asdegradation of laser spot quality during recording and playback; however, with a double-sided disc structure, it is largely
possible to prevent any occurrence of tilt that might be caused by such temperature increases. However, even with adouble-sided AD structure, excessive force or warping is fatal to long-term storage, and so it is always recommended thatdiscs be stored in an appropriate cartridge or case, and kept vertical or flat.

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5 The Future
As it was explained in the roadmap in Chapter 3, after the 2nd generation, we aim to evolve AD into the 3rd generation andeven further continuously. Preparations for this evolution are already under way, and we are engaging in detailed
discussions about the road ahead.
3rd generation disc will have an identical physical structure, with greater linear density by introducing a multiple-level recording
technology taking the capacity to over 1 TB.
figure 12.

Playback result of four-level recording on the second-generation AD disc is shown in

As can be seen, each signal level is separated clearly, which indicates that each mark is recorded properly.

A lowenough data error rate of 6.54E-4 was confirmed.

Figure 12. 3rd-generation AD multiple-level recording/playback performance

An advanced cross-talk canceling technology is also under development and we have a good prospect on realizing anarrower track pitch. As such, AD standard will use the same basic specifications for laser wavelength, NA, and disc layer
structure as reliable Blu-ray Disc™, but with upgraded narrow track pitch and high linear density technologies. It will be
evolved to achieve ever greater recording capacities. AD standard is a highly promising means of storage for low-costarchiving as data volumes grow ever larger in the future.

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