PERPENDICULAR MAGNETIC RECORDING MEDIUM, ITS MANUFACTURING METHOD, RECORDING METHOD, AND REPRODUCING METHOD

摘要

A perpendicular magnetic recording medium comprises a substrate, a soft magnetic backing layer, a seed layer, magnetic flux slit layer, a nonmagnetic intermediate layer, a recording layer, a protective layer, and a lubrication layer. The layers are sequentially formed over the substrate. The magnetic flux slit layer (13) contains soft magnetic particles having boundaries with nonmagnetic portions and having a generally columnar structure and confines the magnetic flux from a recording head in soft magnetic particles thereby to limit the divergence of the magnetic flux. A perpendicular magnetic recording medium where a magnetic flux slit layer is provided on a recording layer is also disclosed.