Patent ID: 8592060

Claim:
A perpendicular magnetic recording medium, comprising: a substrate; a soft-magnetic underlayer above the substrate; a seed layer above the soft-magnetic underlayer; a first intermediate layer above the seed layer; a second intermediate layer above the first intermediate layer; a recording layer above the second intermediate layer; and a protective layer above the recording layer, wherein the second intermediate layer comprises an Ru alloy including an element selected from a group consisting of: Ti in a range from about 20 at. % to about 50 at. %, Nb in a range from about 20 at. % to about 50 at. %, Al in a range from about 20 at. % to about 40 at. %, and Ta in a range from about 30 at. % to about 50 at. %, wherein the seed layer has a face-centered cubic (fcc) structure and comprises a main component of at least one of: Ni, Cu, Pd, and Pt, and wherein the main component is doped with at least one of: Cr, W, V, Mo, Ta, and Nb.