Perpendicular magnetic recording medium, method of manufacturing the same, and magnetic recording device

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention help to provide a discrete track medium for realizing a high track density in a low price by adopting a configuration, in which filling of a non-magnetic material into a guard band portion and smoothing processing of a medium surface are not required. According to one embodiment, a perpendicular magnetic recording medium, on the non-magnetic substrate, includes at least: a soft magnetic underlayer; a first recording layer including a crystal grain having a magnetic property and a non-magnetic grain boundary having an oxide, as a main component, surrounding the crystal grain; a second recording layer containing a ferromagnetic metal as a main component and not containing an oxide; and at least one non-magnetic layer provided between the first recording layer and the second recording layer. A recording track portion for magnetically recording information and a guard band portion provided between adjacent recording track portions are included in the perpendicular magnetic recording medium. The relationship between the total thickness tof the non-magnetic layer in the guard band portion and the total thickness tof the non-magnetic layer in the recording track portion is set as t>t