Magnetic recording medium, method of manufacturing therefor, and magnetic read/write apparatus

A magnetic recording medium at least comprising a soft magnetic undercoat film made of a soft magnetic material, an orientation control film that controls the orientation of a film provided directly above, a perpendicular magnetization film, of which the axis of easy magnetization is generally oriented perpendicular to a substrate, and a protective film, that are provided on a non-magnetic substrate, wherein

• the orientation control film has an fcc structure and, at the same time, Δθ50 of the (111) orientation plane is set within a range from 3 to 10 degrees and a difference (Δθ50 (mag)−Δθ50 (ori)) between Δθ50 (ori) of the orientation control film and Δθ50 (mag) of the perpendicular magnetization film is set within a range from 1 to 8 degrees.

A method of manufacturing a magnetic recording medium, which comprises forming at least a soft magnetic undercoat film made of a soft magnetic material, an orientation control film that controls the orientation of a film provided right above, a perpendicular magnetization film of which axis of easy magnetization is generally oriented perpendicular to a substrate, and a protective film, on a non-magnetic substrate,

• while controlling so that the orientation control film has an hcp structure or a fcc structure and, at the same time, Δθ50 of the (0002) orientation plane or the (111) orientation plane is set within a range from 3 to 10 degrees and the difference (Δθ50 (mag)−Δθ50 (ori)) between Δθ50 (ori) of the orientation control film and Δθ50 (mag) of the perpendicular magnetization film is set within a range from 1 to 8 degrees.

A magnetic read/write apparatus comprising a magnetic recording medium and a magnetic head that records information on the magnetic recording medium and replays the information, wherein

• the magnetic recording medium comprises at least a soft magnetic undercoat film made of a soft magnetic material, an orientation control film that controls the orientation of a film provided directly above, a perpendicular magnetization film of which the axis of easy magnetization is generally oriented perpendicular to a substrate, and a protective film, that are provided on a non-magnetic substrate, while the orientation control film has an hcp structure or a fcc structure and, at the same time, Δθ50 of the (0002) orientation plane or the (111) orientation plane is set within a range from 3 to 10 degrees and the difference (Δθ50 (mag)−Δθ50 (ori)) between Δθ50 (ori) of the orientation control film and Δθ50 (mag) of the perpendicular magnetization film is set within a range from 1 to 8 degrees.