Abstract: Provided is a method of manufacturing a magnetic disk glass substrate, wherein, in a main surface polishing process, main surface polishing is applied to one of main surfaces of a glass substrate so that the one main surface has a predetermined arithmetic mean roughness, and main surface polishing is applied to the other main surface of the glass substrate so that the other main surface has a roughness which is higher than the arithmetic mean roughness (Ra) of the one main surface and which is low enough to prevent a component forming the magnetic disk glass substrate from being eluted from the other main surface.

Abstract: According to one embodiment, a perpendicular magnetic recording medium includes a substrate, and a multilayered magnetic recording layer formed on the substrate by alternately stacking two or more magnetic layers and two or more nonmagnetic layers. The magnetic layers and nonmagnetic layers of the multilayered magnetic recording layer are continuous layers. The magnetic layer includes a magnetic material portion, and a plurality of pinning sites dispersed in the magnetic material portion and made of a nonmagnetic metal different from a nonmagnetic material as a main component of the nonmagnetic layer. This perpendicular magnetic recording medium has magnetic characteristics by which a gradient a of a magnetization curve near the coercive force is 5 or more.

Abstract: According to one embodiment, a magnetic recording medium is formed by performing gas ion irradiation by using a magnetism deactivating gas on a stack including a perpendicular magnetic recording layer, an Ru nonmagnetic underlayer containing a magnetism deactivating element selected from chromium, titanium, and silicon, and a nonmagnetic substrate. Before gas ion irradiation, the perpendicular magnetic recording layer contains platinum and at least one of iron and cobalt. Gas ion irradiation is performed using nitrogen gas alone or a gas mixture of nitrogen gas and at least one gas selected from the group consisting of helium, hydrogen, and B2H6.

Abstract: A perpendicular magnetic recording medium is provided, which has a soft magnetic layer, a seed layer, a first intermediate layer, a second intermediate layer and a perpendicular magnetic recording layer, formed in this order on a non-magnetic substrate, and is characterized in that the seed layer is comprised of a (002) crystal plane-orientated hcp structure, the first intermediate layer is comprised of a (110) crystal plane-orientated bcc structure and the second intermediate layer is comprised of a (002) crystal plane-orientated hcp structure. The (110) crystal plane-orientated bcc structure comprises at least 60 atomic % of Cr. The magnetic recording medium has fine and well discrete magnetic crystal grains with extremely small size and exhibits good perpendicular orientation in the perpendicular magnetic recording layer, and thus, the medium is capable of recording and reproducing information with high density.

Abstract: A magnetic recording medium used for perpendicular magnetic recording, the magnetic recording medium comprising: a substrate having a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface; a magnetic recording medium constituent layer formed on the first surface of the substrate, the magnetic recording medium constituent layer including at least a magnetic recording layer; a non-magnetic metal film formed on the second surface of the substrate; and a carbon-based protective film formed on the non-magnetic metal film.

Abstract: A perpendicular magnetic recording medium is provided, which has a soft magnetic layer, an under layer, an intermediate layer and a perpendicular magnetic recording layer, and is characterized in that the perpendicular magnetic recording layer is comprised of at least one magnetic layer, which magnetic layer or at least one of which magnetic layers comprises cobalt-based ferromagnetic crystal grains and grain boundaries comprised of an oxide, wherein the ferromagnetic crystal grains further comprise ruthenium. The perpendicular magnetic recording medium has ferromagnetic crystal grains with extremely small grain size and exhibiting enhanced discretion, as well as good perpendicular orientation in the perpendicular magnetic recording layer, and thus, the medium is capable of recording and reproducing information with high density.

Abstract: According to one embodiment, a perpendicular magnetic recording medium includes a substrate, soft magnetic underlying layer, nonmagnetic underlying layer, and perpendicular magnetic recording layer. The perpendicular magnetic recording layer has an array of magnetic structures each corresponding to 1 bit of recording information, and includes a crystalline hard magnetic recording layer having perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, and an amorphous soft magnetic recording layer. The hard and soft magnetic recording layers are coupled by exchange coupling.

Abstract: A highly reliable magnetic recording medium is provided which has a recording layer formed in a concavo-convex pattern and wherein the recording layer is unlikely to cause a change in magnetic properties. The magnetic recording medium includes a substrate, a recording layer formed in a predetermined concavo-convex pattern over the substrate, convex portions of the concavo-convex pattern serving as recording elements; and a filler portion filling a concave portion between the recording elements. The filler portion comprises a metal-based main filler material and oxygen. Oxygen is unevenly distributed in the filler portion so that the ratio of the number of oxygen atoms to the total of the number of atoms of the main filler material and the number of oxygen atoms is greater in an upper surface portion of the filler portion than in a lower portion of the filler portion.

Abstract: A substrate for use as a disk substrate in a hard disk drive or the like, an information recording medium such as a magnetic disk, and a starting material glass plate which is a starting material of the substrate for information recording media. The forming conditions of the starting material glass plate are controlled such that the starting material glass plate has a long-wavelength waviness of not more than 6 nm. This starting material glass plate is polished so as to have a long-wavelength waviness of not more than 6 nm using CeO2 abrasive grains having a mean grain diameter of not less than 0.01 ?m and a 90% diameter of the volume grain size distribution of not less than 0.02 ?m. The resulting substrate for an information recording medium has an excellent planarity, can be obtained in a short time and with a low polishing amount, and the resulting information recording medium is able to cope with increased data zone recording density.

Abstract: A method of plating on a glass substrate allowing an electroless plating film with good adhesiveness to be formed by chemically bonding a silane coupling agent in a state of simple adhesion or hydrogen bond to the surface of the glass substrate through dehydration condensation reaction, and a method of manufacturing a magnetic recording medium using the plating method. In the plating method, electroless plating is performed on a glass substrate after sequentially conducting at least the adhesion layer formation that forms an adhesion layer using a silane coupling agent solution, catalyst layer formation, a catalyst activation, and a drying that chemically bonds the silane coupling agent in the adhesion layer to the surface of the glass substrate.

Abstract: A tunnel magnetoresistive element includes a laminate including a pinned magnetic layer, an insulating barrier layer, and a free magnetic layer. The insulating barrier layer is composed of Ti—Mg—O or Ti—O. The free magnetic layer includes an enhancement sublayer, a first soft magnetic sublayer, a nonmagnetic metal sublayer, and a second soft magnetic sublayer. For example, the enhancement sublayer is composed of Co—Fe, the first soft magnetic sublayer and the second soft magnetic sublayer are composed of Ni—Fe, and the nonmagnetic metal sublayer is composed of Ta. The total thickness of the average thickness of the enhancement sublayer and the average thickness of the first soft magnetic sublayer is in the range of 25 to 80 angstroms. Accordingly, the tunneling magnetoresistive element can consistently have a higher rate of resistance change than before.