Patent ID: 6916557

Claim:
A perpendicular magnetic recording medium having a perpendicular magnetization film on a nonmagnetic substrate via a soft magnetic film and an intermediate film, said intermediate film formed of a plurality of layers between said soft magnetic film and said perpendicular magnetization film, said intermediate film comprising at least two layers, said at least two layers comprising: an oxygen-containing layer, or a nonmetallic element containing layer containing nitrogen, silicon or carbon; and a metallic layer formed on a surface side of said oxygen-containing layer or said nonmetallic element-containing layer, said metallic layer having an average thickness in a range of 0.1 nm to 2 nm and including a plurality of isolated island-shaped structures, wherein the surface of the oxygen-containing layer or the nonmetallic element-containing layer as an underlining layer of said metallic layer is exposed around said island-shaped structures, said metallic layer is composed of an element selected from the group consisting of Ta, W, Nb, Mo or Ru, or an alloy including the element as a major ingredient by at %.