Patent ID: 7713591

Claim:
A method for orienting the magnetic anisotropy of longitudinal patterned magnetic recording media, the method comprising: providing a disk-shaped longitudinal magnetic recording medium comprising a plurality of magnetic grains, each said magnetic grain comprising magnetic cobalt atoms, each said magnetic grain having an axis of magnetic anisotropy, wherein the axis of magnetic anisotropy of each said magnetic grain lies in a plane parallel to the disk-shaped longitudinal recording medium and wherein a ratio of said magnetic grains having a magnetic anisotropy oriented substantially along a circumferential direction of the longitudinal magnetic recording medium to said magnetic grains having a magnetic anisotropy oriented substantially along a radial direction is greater than one; patterning the longitudinal magnetic recording medium to form an array of magnetic islands arranged into circular tracks in a circumferential direction disposed around the disk-shaped longitudinal magnetic recording medium, each magnetic island having a portion of the magnetic grains of the magnetic recording medium; and irradiating an entire surface of the patterned disk-shaped longitudinal magnetic recording medium simultaneously with ions, the ion radiation increasing a magnetic exchange coupling between the portion of said magnetic grains of the each magnetic island relative to a magnetic exchange coupling between the portion of said magnetic grains of the each magnetic island prior to the ion radiation, the increased magnetic exchange coupling aligning the axes of magnetic anisotropy of each said magnetic grain within the each magnetic island with an average axis of magnetic anisotropy of the portion of said magnetic grains in the each magnetic island.