Patent ID: 8221637

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a magnetic recording medium, comprising: forming a ferromagnetic recording layer having an opening or recess on a substrate at positions corresponding to a recording track section and a servo section; forming a protective film on the ferromagnetic recording layer to cover a part of a surface of the ferromagnetic recording layer adjacent to the opening or recess with the protective film, the protective film being made of diamond-like carbon; forming a flattening film on the protective film such that the flattening film covers the protective film at a position of the part of the surface of the ferromagnetic layer adjacent to the opening or recess and fills the opening or the recess, the flattening film being made of a material selected from the group consisting of Ti, Ru, Pt and Pd; and subjecting the flattening film to an ion beam-etching to expose the part of the surface of the protective film adjacent to the opening or recess, an end point of the ion beam-etching being determined on the basis of a change in a total number of incident particles monitored by a quadrupole mass spectrometer, and the quadrupole mass spectrometer being installed such that the quadrupole mass spectrometer monitors particles sputtered in a direction forming an angle within a range of 20° or more and 40° or less.