Patent ID: 7332194

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a perpendicular magnetic recording medium comprising, in order: forming a soft magnetic back-lining layer on a non-magnetic substrate; forming an intermediate layer comprising Ru or Ru-based alloy on said soft magnetic back-lining layer; forming a magnetic recording layer incorporating a granular structure on said intermediate layer, wherein said granular structure is formed by the dispersion of magnetic grains in a matrix of non-magnetic oxide or non-magnetic nitride; forming a protective film on said magnetic recording layer; and forming a liquid lubricating layer on said protective film; wherein a thermal treatment is performed in an atmosphere ranging in temperature from about 200° C. to about 250° C. for no longer than about 60 seconds under a vacuum higher than about 0.1 Pa either (i) after forming said magnetic recording layer and before forming said protective film, or (ii) after forming said protective film and before the forming said liquid lubricating layer.