Patent ID: 7241516

Claim:
A magnetic recording medium for perpendicular recording, comprising: a) a substrate; b) an underlayer structure disposed over said substrate, said underlayer structure comprising: i) a first soft magnetic underlayer having a first thickness; ii) a second soft magnetic underlayer having a second thickness and a third soft magnetic layer having a third thickness disposed over said first soft underlayer; iii) a first non-magnetic spacer layer disposed between said first and second soft magnetic underlayers; and iv) a second non-magnetic spacer layer disposed between said second soft magnetic underlayer and said third soft magnetic underlayer, wherein said second and said third soft magnetic underlayers are anti-parallel coupled through said second non-magnetic spacer layer, and wherein said first thickness is greater than said second thickness and is greater than said third thickness; c) an intermediate layer disposed over said underlayer structure; and d) a perpendicular magnetic recording layer disposed over said intermediate layer.