Patent ID: 6890667

Claim:
A magnetic recording medium for use in a magnetic recording system, comprising: a soft underlayer structure comprising a first soft underlayer and a second soft second underlayer, the first soft underlayer being disposed on a substrate of the magnetic recording medium and the second soft underlayer being directly disposed on the first soft underlayer, the first soft underlayer and the second soft underlayer having respective first and second magnetization saturation values, the second magnetization saturation value being greater than the first magnetization saturation value; an exchange isolation layer disposed on the second soft underlayer; and a recording storage layer disposed on the exchange isolation layer, wherein the first soft underlayer has a first thickness and the second soft underlayer has a second thickness, the first thickness being greater than the second thickness, the first thickness is in a range of 0.05 to 5 microns and the second thickness is less than 100 nm.