Patent ID: 7993536

Claim:
A method of manufactoring a magnetic recording medium comprising: forming a first hard mask, a second hard mask selected from the group consisting a Aluminum (Al), Titanium (Ti), Ruthenium (Ru), Platinum (Pt), Cobalt (Co), Gold (Au), Silver (Ag), Silicon (Si), Copper (Cu), and oxides, alloys and mixtures thereof, and silicon Carbide (SiC), NiNbZrTi, CoPt, and CoCrPtSiO 2 , and having thickness of 2 nm or more and 15 nm or less, and resist film on a magnetic recording layer; imprinting a stamper on the resist film in order to transfer patterns of recesses and protrusions; removing residues remained in recesses of the patterned resist film; etching the second hard mask using the patterned resist film as a mask in order to transfer patterns of recesses and protrusions; etching the first hard mask using the patterned second hard mask as a mask to transfer patterns of recesses and protrusions; and deactivating magnetism of the magnetic recording layer exposed in the recesses and removing the second hard mask by ion-beam etching using an etching gas selected from the group consisting of Helium (He), Nitrogen (N 2 ), Tetrafluoromethane (CF 4 ), and a mixture gas of He and N 2 , wherein the magnetic recording layer is etched to a depth of 15 nm or less, and a thickness of the second hard mask (th), etching depth of the magnetic recording layer (dm), etching rate of the second hard mask (rh), and etching rate of the magnetic recording layer (rm) satisfy the following formula: th/rh≦dm/rm.