Magnetic recording medium and manufacturing method thereof

A magnetic recording medium comprising:

• a magnetic recording layer including a plurality of magnetic layers formed directly or indirectly on a substrate;
• a nonmagnetic element contained in the magnetic recording layer, with more concentrated parts of the nonmagnetic element and less concentrated parts of the nonmagnetic element being present in the in-plane direction of the magnetic recording layer;
• and
• a nonmagnetic layer formed between at least two layers of the plurality of magnetic layers in the less concentrated parts of the nonmagnetic element in the magnetic recording layer, a main component of the nonmagnetic layer being the nonmagnetic element.

A manufacturing method of a magnetic recording medium comprising a magnetic recording layer formed directly or indirectly on a substrate, a nonmagnetic element contained in the magnetic recording layer, and more concentrated parts of the nonmagnetic element and less concentrated parts of the nonmagnetic element being present in an in-plane direction of the magnetic recording layer;

• the method comprising:
• forming the magnetic recording layer over the substrate;
• forming a nonmagnetic layer mainly comprising the nonmagnetic element;
• forming a mask layer having apertures for forming the more concentrated parts of the nonmagnetic element in the magnetic recording layer;
• and
• ion-implanting the nonmagnetic element in the magnetic layer through the nonmagnetic layer using the mask layer as a mask.