Patent ID: 8173282

Claim:
A recording medium for perpendicular recording applications, the recording medium comprising: a magnetic recording layer comprising a FePtX alloy and having an axis of magnetic anisotropy substantially perpendicular to the surface thereof; a soft magnetic underlayer disposed under the magnetic recording layer and physically coupled to the magnetic recording layer through a plurality of intermediate layers magnetically decoupling the soft magnetic underlayer from the magnetic recording layer, wherein the plurality of intermediate layers further comprises: a first textured nucleation layer; and an ordering temperature reducing layer disposed between the magnetic recording layer and the first textured nucleation layer, the ordering temperature reducing layer comprising a greater carbon at. % than the magnetic recording layer, wherein the first textured nucleation layer is selected from the group consisting of Pt, Pd, Ag, RuAl, NiAl, Ru, Cu, and MgO layers.