Patent ID: 7771602

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a magnetic recording medium, comprising: forming a ferromagnetic recording layer having an opening or recess on a substrate at positions corresponding to a recording track section and a servo section; forming a protective film on the ferromagnetic recording layer to cover a part of a surface of the ferromagnetic recording layer adjacent to the opening or recess with the protective film, the protective film being made of diamond-like carbon; forming a flattening film on the protective film such that the flattening film covers the protective film at a position of the part of the surface of the ferromagnetic layer adjacent to the opening or recess and fills the opening or the recess, the flattening film being made of SiO 2 ; and subjecting the flattening film to an ion beam-etching to expose the part of the surface of the protective film adjacent to the opening or recess, an end point of the ion beam-etching being determined on the basis of a change in a total number of incident particles monitored by a quadrupole mass spectrometer, and the quadrupole mass spectrometer being installed such that the quadrupole mass spectrometer monitors particles sputtered in a direction forming an angle within a range of 50° to 70° with respect to a direction perpendicular to the substrate as the incident particles.