Patent ID: 7732071

Claim:
A patterned magnetic recording disk comprising: a substrate comprising an underlayer of a soft magnetically permeable material selected from the group of alloys consisting of CoNiFe, FeCoB, CoCuFe, NiFe, FeAlSi, FeTaN, FeN, FeTaC, CoTaZr, CoFeTaZr, CoFeB, and CoZrNb, a diffusion barrier on the underlayer, an amorphous Si layer on the diffusion barrier and having a generally planar surface, and a plurality of pillars extending generally perpendicularly from said Si layer surface, the pillars having generally coplanar ends and a height equal to or greater than 5 nm and equal to or less than 50 nm and being arranged in radially-spaced concentric tracks and spaced-apart along the tracks; a recording layer having perpendicular magnetic anisotropy on the ends of the pillars, the recording layer being formed of a material comprising one or more elements selected from the group consisting of Co, Fe, Pt and Pd; and nonmagnetic regions at said surface between said pillars, said nonmagnetic regions comprising a compound of Si and at least one of said recording layer elements.