Method for manufacturing a magnetic disk having reduced bit shift, minimized noise, increased resolution and uniform magnetic characteristics, and the resulting disk

Abstract

A method for manufacturing a disk includes the step of forming a first nickel-phosphorus alloy layer on an aluminum substrate, e.g., by electroless plating. A second nickel-phosphorus layer is then sputtered onto the first nickel-phosphorus layer, and a magnetic alloy is sputtered onto the second nickel-phosphorus layer. The magnetic alloy is typically sputtered immediately after the second nickel-phosphorus layer is formed without removing the disk from the sputtering apparatus between the time the second nickel-phosphorus layer is formed and the time the magnetic alloy is formed. Because of this, contaminants are not capable of lodging on or affecting the surface of the disk prior to formation of the magnetic alloy. The second nickel-phosphorus layer is typically amorphous and therefore masks any nonuniformities in the surface of the first nickel-phosphorus layer. Because of this, the second nickel-phosphorus layer serves as a uniform nucleation surface for forming the magnetic alloy, and thus the magnetic alloy exhibits uniform magnetic characteristics.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.