A magnetic tape in which a vertical switching field distribution SFD of the magnetic tape is 1.5 or less, and in an environment with a temperature of 23° C. and a relative humidity of 50%, an AlFeSil abrasion value.sub.45° of a surface of the magnetic layer measured at a tilt angle of 45° of an AlFeSil prism is 20 μm to 50 μm, a standard deviation of an AlFeSil abrasion value of the surface of the magnetic layer measured at each of tilt angles of 0°, 15°, 30°, and 45° of the AlFeSil prism is 30 μm or less, and the tilt angle of the AlFeSil prism is an angle formed by a longitudinal direction of the AlFeSil prism and a width direction of the magnetic tape.

A magnetic recording medium includes a flexible and elongated substrate, a soft magnetic layer having an average thickness of 10 nm or more to 50 nm or less, and a recording layer. The soft magnetic layer is disposed between the substrate and the recording layer, and a difference in Young's modulus between the magnetic recording medium and the substrate in a longitudinal direction of the substrate is 2.4 GPa or more.

Provided is a sputtering target, the sputtering target containing 0.05 at % or more of Bi and having a total content of metal oxides of from 10 vol % to 60 vol %, the balance containing at least Co and Pt.

Provided is a magnetic recording medium having a large magnetocrystalline anisotropy constant K.sub.u and a high coercivity H.sub.c as well as a sputtering target used for producing such a magnetic recording medium.

A Pt-oxide-based sputtering target consists of 60 vol % or more and less than 100 vol % of a Pt-base alloy phase and more than 0 vol % and 40 vol % or less of an oxide, where the Pt-base alloy phase contains 50 at % or more and 100 at % or less of Pt.

Provided is a magnetic tape in which a center line average surface roughness Ra measured regarding a surface of a magnetic layer is equal to or smaller than 1.8 nm, logarithmic decrement acquired by a pendulum viscoelasticity test performed regarding the surface of the magnetic layer is equal to or smaller than 0.050, a back coating layer includes one or more components selected from the group consisting of fatty acid and fatty acid amide, and a C—H derived C concentration calculated from a C—H peak area ratio of C1s spectra obtained by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic analysis performed regarding a surface of the back coating layer at a photoelectron take-off angle of 10 degrees is equal to or greater than 35 atom %.

It is an object to provide a magnetic recording medium that enables good reproduction even after long-term preservation and that has a small overall thickness. The present technology provides a tape-shaped magnetic recording medium including a magnetic layer, a ground layer, a base layer, and a back layer, in which an average thickness tT of the magnetic recording medium is equal to or less than 5.3 μm, and, when the magnetic recording medium is subjected to dynamic viscoelasticity measurement at a frequency of 10 Hz and a temperature rise rate of 2° C./min, a difference between a maximum and a minimum of a viscosity term E″ in a temperature range of 0° C. to 80° C. is equal to or less than 0.18 GPa. In addition, the present technology also provides a tape cartridge including the tape-shaped magnetic recording medium.

The magnetic recording medium includes at least a nonmagnetic substrate and a magnetic recording layer, the magnetic recording layer consists of a first magnetic recording layer or a plurality of layers including at least the first magnetic recording layer and a second magnetic recording layer, the first magnetic recording layer has a granular structure including a first magnetic crystal grain and a first nonmagnetic crystal grain boundary, the first magnetic crystal grain consists of an ordered alloy having Fe, Pt and Rh, the first nonmagnetic crystal grain boundary consists of carbon, boron or a combination thereof, the second magnetic recording layer has a granular structure including a second magnetic crystal grain and a second nonmagnetic crystal grain boundary, the second magnetic crystal grain consists of an FePt ordered alloy or an ordered alloy having Fe, Pt and Rh, and the second nonmagnetic crystal grain boundary includes carbon.

A magnetic recording medium includes a substrate; a lower base layer formed on the substrate; and a (001) oriented L1.sub.0 magnetic layer formed on the lower base layer and including a first magnetic layer formed on the lower base layer and having a granular structure of magnetic grains and a grain boundary portion, the grain boundary portion containing C, and a second magnetic layer formed on the first magnetic layer and having a granular structure of magnetic grains and a grain boundary portion, the grain boundary portion containing oxide or nitride, the second magnetic layer further containing one or more elements selected from a group consisting of Mg, Ni, Zn, Ge, Pd, Sn, Ag, Re, Au and Pb as an additive.

The present invention aims at providing a magnetic recording medium that can lower a Curie temperature (Tc) of a magnetic material, without increasing an in-plane coercive force and lowering magnetic properties. The magnetic recording medium is a magnetic recording medium comprising a substrate and a magnetic recording layer, the magnetic recording layer comprising an FePtRh ordered alloy, wherein a Rh content in the FePtRh ordered alloy is 10 at % or less.

A film forming device includes a drum having a circumferential surface, a cathode accommodation unit disposed to be opposite to the circumferential surface, a first gas introducing unit which introduces a first gas into the cathode accommodation unit, and a second gas introducing unit which introduces a second gas between the circumferential surface and the cathode accommodation unit.