Patent ID: 7241519

Claim:
A magnetic recording medium comprising: a magnetic layer with an oblique columnar structure on a non-magnetic base, wherein the columnar structure includes: a plurality of curved columnar sub-structures extending from a lower surface of said magnetic layer to an upper surface of said magnetic layer, wherein each of said curved columnar sub-structures comprises; a plurality of columns which are clusters of ferromagnetic particles; and non-magnetic particles disposed around the columns and between said curved columnar sub-structures so as to separate the columns from one another, wherein, a value Y/X is 0.5 or more, where Y/X is defined as a ratio of an average value Y of a distance between the centers of the columns adjacent to each other in a film in-plane direction in adjacent curved columnar sub-structures to an average value X of a distance between the centers of the columns adjacent to each other in a film thickness direction within the same curved columnar sub-structure, the columns each have a structure in which three to seven of the ferromagnetic particles are arranged in a line, the average diameter of the ferromagnetic particles is within a range of 5 nm to 10 nm inclusive, and the thickness of the magnetic layer is 100 nm or less.