PROCESS FOR PRODUCING MAGNETIC RECORDING MEDIUM, MAGNETIC RECORDING MEDIUM, AND APPARATUS FOR MAGNETIC RECORDING/REPRODUCING

摘要

A process for producing a magnetic recording medium having a magnetically divided magnetic recording pattern; the magnetic recording medium; and an apparatus for magnetic recording/reproducing. The process comprises: forming a continuous recording layer on a nonmagnetic substrate; subsequently forming a mask layer comprising any one or more elements selected from the elements Pt, Ru, and Pd on the recording layer so as not to cover part of the recording layer; and thereafter forming a magnetically divided magnetic recording pattern through a magnetic-property alteration step in which that area of the surface of the recording layer which has not been covered with the mask layer is exposed to a reactive plasma or reactive ions generated in the reactive plasma to thereby render the area of the recording layer amorphous and alter the magnetic properties of the area.