Patent ID: 7273563

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a magnetic recording medium, comprising: a non-magnetic material filling step of depositing a non-magnetic material over a recording layer formed in a predetermined concavo-convex pattern over a substrate to fill a concave portion of the concavo-convex pattern with the non-magnetic material; and a flattening step of removing an excess part of the non-magnetic material above the recording layer so that the non-magnetic material remains in the concave portion by dry etching to flatten a surface of the recording layer and a surface of the non-magnetic material, wherein the flattening step includes a former flattening step and a latter flattening step for finishing; and a time required for the former flattening step and a time required for the latter flattening step are each made closer to a time required for at least one of a pre-step and a post-step of the flattening step than a total time required for the former flattening step and the latter flattening step.