Magnetic recording medium and manufacturing method thereof

A magnetic recording medium comprising:

• a magnetic recording layer formed directly or indirectly on a substrate and having at least two ferromagnetic alloy layers having different compositions stacked directly or with an intermediate layer interposed therebetween;
• and
• more concentrated parts and less concentrated parts of a nonmagnetic element arranged in the in-plane direction of a layer located closest to the medium surface among the at least two ferromagnetic alloy layers;
• wherein
• the more concentrated parts of the nonmagnetic element in the ferromagnetic alloy layer located closest to the medium surface have a higher concentration of the nonmagnetic element than other layers except for the intermediate layer, and
• the less concentrated parts of the nonmagnetic element in the ferromagnetic alloy layer located closest to the medium surface have a higher concentration of a ferromagnetic element than the other part in the magnetic recording layer.

A method of manufacturing a magnetic recording medium comprising:

• forming on a substrate, a magnetic recording layer including at least two ferromagnetic alloy layers having different compositions;
• forming a mask layer having apertures for forming more concentrated parts of a nonmagnetic element in an in-plane direction of the magnetic recording layer;
• and
• implanting ions of the nonmagnetic element into the magnetic recording layer using the mask layer as a mask;
• wherein
• the ion implantation is conducted so that the most concentrated parts of the implanted nonmagnetic element lie in the ferromagnetic alloy layer located closest to a medium surface.