High moment directionally textured soft magnetic underlayer in a magnetic storage medium

A method of manufacturing a magnetic recording medium for communication with a transducer moving relative to the recording medium along a line of relative transducer motion, comprising:

• providing a substrate having a substrate surface;
• depositing a seed layer on the substrate surface;
• depositing a soft magnetic underlayer on the seed layer, the soft magnetic underlayer comprising a magnetic material having a magnetic moment larger than 1.7 teslas, the soft magnetic underlayer having a texture that provides a magnetic easy axis that has an easy axis alignment parallel to the line of relative transducer motion;
• and
• depositing a magnetic storage layer on the soft magnetic underlayer.

A magnetic recording medium for communication with a transducer moving relative to the recording medium along a line of relative transducer motion, comprising:

• a substrate, a seed layer disposed on the substrate;
• a soft magnetic underlayer disposed on the seed layer, the soft magnetic underlayer comprising a magnetic material having a magnetic moment larger than 1.7 teslas, and a magnetic storage layer disposed on the soft magnetic underlayer;
• and
• means for texturing the soft magnetic underlayer to provide a magnetic easy axis that has an easy axis alignment parallel to the line of relative transducer motion.