Patent ID: 8012613

Claim:
A magnetic recording medium having at least one soft magnetic layer, at least one seed layer, at least one underlayer and at least one perpendicular magnetic recording layer having a (002) crystal plane-orientated hcp structure, which are formed in turn on a non-magnetic substrate, wherein: at least one of said at least one seed layer is comprised of a covalently bonded material predominantly comprising a nitride having a hexagonal crystal structure; said at least one underlayer is comprised of Ru or Re, or an alloy thereof, which has a (002) crystal plane-orientated hcp structure, or Pt or Pd, or an alloy thereof, which has a (111) crystal plane-orientated (fcc) structure; and a layer comprised of a material selected from the group consisting of Ni—Ta, Ni—V, Ni—Nb, Ni—W, Ni—Fe and Ni—Mn and having a fcc structure is further formed between said at least one soft magnetic layer and said at least one seed layer.