A product, according to one approach, includes an underlayer and a magnetic recording layer formed above the underlayer. The underlayer includes first encapsulated nanoparticles each comprising a first magnetic nanoparticle encapsulated by a first aromatic polymer, and a first polymeric binder binding the first encapsulated nanoparticles. The recording layer includes second encapsulated nanoparticles each comprising a second magnetic nanoparticle encapsulated by an encapsulating layer, and a second polymeric binder binding the second encapsulated nanoparticles.

A magnetic recording medium in a shape of a tape that is long in a longitudinal direction and is short in a width direction is provided, the medium including: a base material; and a magnetic layer, in which the magnetic layer includes a data band long in the longitudinal direction in which a data signal is to be written, and a servo band long in the longitudinal direction in which a servo signal is written, and in the magnetic layer, a degree of vertical orientation is greater than or equal to 65%, a half width of a solitary waveform in a reproduction waveform of the servo signal is less than or equal to 195 nm, a thickness of the magnetic layer is less than or equal to 90 nm, and a thickness of the base material is less than or equal to 4.2 μm.

A surface-modified iron-based oxide magnetic particle powder has good solid-liquid separation property in the production process, has good dispersibility in a coating material for forming a coating-type magnetic recording medium, has good orientation property, and has a small elution amount of a water-soluble alkali metal, and to provide a method for producing the surface-modified iron-based oxide magnetic particle powder. The surface-modified iron-based oxide magnetic particle powder can be obtained by neutralizing a solution containing dissolved therein a trivalent iron ion and an ion of the metal, by which the part of Fe sites is to be substituted, with an alkali aqueous solution, so as to provide a precursor, coating a silicon oxide on the precursor, heating the precursor to provide e-type iron-based oxide magnetic powder, and adhering a hydroxide or a hydrous oxide of one kind or two kinds of Al and Y thereto.

Provided is a magnetic recording medium including: a non-magnetic support; and a magnetic layer including particles of at least one kind of epsilon type iron oxide-based compound selected from the group consisting of ε-Fe.sub.2O.sub.3 and a compound represented by Formula (1), an abrasive, and a binding agent, at least on one surface of the non-magnetic support, in which an average equivalent circle diameter of the particles of the epsilon type iron oxide-based compound is 7 nm to 18 nm, an average equivalent circle diameter of the abrasive in a plan view of the magnetic layer is 20 nm to 1,000 nm, and a coefficient of variation of the equivalent circle diameter of the abrasive is 30% to 60%. In Formula (1), A represents at least one kind of metal element other than Fe and a satisfies a relationship of 0<a<2.
ε-A.sub.aFe.sub.2-aO.sub.3  (1).

A magnetic recording medium includes a substrate, an underlayer provided above the substrate, and a magnetic layer provided on and in contact with the underlayer. The underlayer includes a compound represented by a general formula MgO.sub.(1-x), where x falls within a range of 0.07 to 0.25. The magnetic layer includes an alloy having a L1.sub.0 structure, and the alloy having the L1.sub.0 structure includes one or more elements selected from a group consisting of Al, Si, Ga, and Ge.

A sputtering target according to the present invention contains Co and Pt as metal components, wherein a molar ratio of a content of Pt to a content of Co is from 5/100 to 45/100, and wherein the sputtering target contains Nb.sub.2O.sub.5 as a metal oxide component.

The magnetic tape includes a non-magnetic support and a magnetic layer including ferromagnetic powder, in which the ferromagnetic powder is ε-iron oxide powder, and a coefficient of variation of an anisotropic magnetic field Hk in a longitudinal direction of the magnetic tape is 2.0% or more and 10.0% or less.

[Object] Provided is a technology that is capable of further improving a recording density of data. [Solving Means] A magnetic recording medium according to the present technology is a magnetic recording medium in a shape of a tape that is long in a longitudinal direction and is short in a width direction, the medium including: a base material; a magnetic layer; and a non-magnetic layer that is provided between the base material and the magnetic layer, and contains one or more types of non-magnetic inorganic particles, in which the magnetic layer includes a data band long in the longitudinal direction in which a data signal is to be written, and a servo band long in the longitudinal direction in which a servo signal is written, and in the magnetic layer, a degree of vertical orientation is greater than or equal to 65%, a half width of a solitary waveform in a reproduction waveform of the servo signal is less than or equal to 195 nm, and a thickness of the magnetic layer is less than or equal to 90 nm, and the non-magnetic layer contains at least Fe-based non-magnetic particles as the non-magnetic inorganic particles, and in the non-magnetic layer, an average particle volume of the Fe-based non-magnetic particles is less than or equal to 2.0×10.sup.−5 μm.sup.3, and a thickness of the non-magnetic layer is less than or equal to 1.1 μm.

This aluminum alloy substrate for a magnetic recording medium has a metal structure made of an Al alloy having a composition including Si in a range of 18.0% by mass to 22.0% by mass, Fe in a range of 4.0% by mass to 6.0% by mass, Cu in a range of 2.5% by mass to 4.0% by mass, and Mg in a range of 0.8% by mass to 1.5% by mass with a remainder being Al, a primary-crystal Si precipitate having a maximum diameter of 0.5 m or more and an average particle diameter of 2 m or less is dispersed in the metal structure, a diameter is in a range of 53 mm to 97 mm, and a thickness is in a range of 0.2 mm to 0.9 mm.

This substrate for a magnetic recording medium has a metal structure made of an Al alloy having a composition including Si in a range of 28.0% by mass to 32.0% by mass, Cu in a range of 2.5% by mass to 4.0% by mass, and Mg in a range of 0.8% by mass to 1.5% by mass with a remainder being Al, primary-crystal Si particles having a maximum diameter of 0.5 m or more and an average particle diameter of 2 m or less are dispersed in the metallic structure, a diameter of the substrate is in a range of 53 mm to 97 mm, and a thickness of the substrate is in a range of 0.2 mm to 0.9 mm.