Patent ID: 8206602

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a magnetic recording medium, comprising: forming a first hard mask comprising carbon as a main component, a second hard mask comprising a material selected from the group comprising silver (Ag), gold (Au), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), palladium (Pd), platinum (Pt), ruthenium (Ru), an alloy thereof, silicon (Si), silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ), silicon nitride (SixNy, wherein a ratio of x/y ranges from 1/1 to 3/4), silicon oxynitride (SiON), silicon carbide (SiC), aluminum (Al), tantalum (Ta), and titanium (Ti) as a main component and a resist on a magnetic recording layer; imprinting the resist with a stamper to transfer patterns of protrusions and recesses to the resist; removing residues in the recesses of the patterned resist; etching the second hard mask by using the patterned resist as a mask to transfer the patterns of protrusions and recesses to the second hard mask; etching the first hard mask by using the second hard mask as a mask to transfer the patterns of protrusions and recesses to the first hard mask; patterning the magnetic recording layer; and removing the first hard mask, wherein the method comprises removing the second hard mask remaining on the protrusions of the first hard mask, and removing a mixing layer on a surface of the first hard mask by etching using a mixed gas of oxygen-based gas and a gaseous fluorine compound, between etching the first hard mask to transfer the patterns of protrusions and recesses to the first hard mask and removing the first hard mask.