The dimensions of the deformed area of a compact disc-recordable (CD-R) were calculated by structural analysis and measured by atomic force microscope (AFM) analysis. From these analyses, the relationship between the deformation of polycarbonate (PC) and the recording characteristics was investigated. The calculated bump height was 26 nm at 7 mW and the actual bump height was 41 nm. The bump was observed from 3.5 mW and the bump height increases with increasing writing power. The carrier to noise ratio (CNR) is related to the bump half-width rather than to the bump height, and the trend of jitter corresponds to that of \3T-bump half width\(1/2).