Patent ID: 8029682

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a magnetic recording medium, comprising: forming a first hard mask, a second hard mask and a resist on a magnetic recording layer; imprinting a stamper to the resist to transfer patterns of protrusions and recesses to the resist; removing residues in the recesses of the patterned resist; etching the second hard mask by using the patterned resist as a mask to transfer the patterns of protrusions and recesses to the second hard mask; etching the first hard mask by using the second hard mask as a mask to transfer the patterns of protrusions and recesses to the first hard mask; processing the magnetic recording layer exposed in the recesses with a modifying treatment by reactive ion etching comprising a gas selected from the group consisting of CF 4 , SF 6 and CHF 3 to increase an etching rate with regard to ion beam etching; and deactivating the magnetic recording layer exposed in the recesses by ion beam etching using a gas selected from the group consisting of He, O 2 , N 2 , a mixed gas of He—N 2 , a mixed gas of He—O 2 and a mixed gas of He—N 2 —O 2 .