A substrate for a magnetic disk includes a substrate main body having two main surfaces and an outer circumferential edge surface that has a side wall surface and chamfered surfaces, and a film that is an alloy film containing Ni and P and provided on a surface of the substrate main body. A disk shape of the substrate main body has an outer diameter of 90 mm or more. A thickness T of the substrate that includes the film provided on the main surfaces is 0.520 mm or less. A total thickness D mm of the film on the main surfaces and the thickness T mm satisfy D≥0.0082/T−0.0015. A film thickness of the film on the outer circumferential edge surface is larger than a film thickness of the film on the main surfaces, and is 150% or less of the film thickness of the film on the main surfaces.

A non magnetic substrate for a magnetic disk includes a substrate main body having two opposing main surfaces and being a glass substrate main body or an aluminum alloy substrate main body, and a metal film made of an Ni—P alloy and provided on the main surfaces and an outer circumferential edge surface of the substrate main body. The non magnetic substrate has a thickness (T+D) of 0.57 mm or less, which is the sum of a thickness T of the substrate main body and a thickness D of the metal film. The non magnetic substrate has a diameter of 90 mm or more. A ratio D/T is 0.025 or more. The outer circumferential edge surface of the substrate main body forming an interface with the metal film has a surface roughness maximum height Rz of 0.5 μm or more.

A substrate for a magnetic disk includes a substrate main body having a disk shape and an alloy film. The substrate has a thickness (T+D) of 0.520 mm or less, which is the sum of a thickness T of the substrate main body and a thickness D of the film formed on main surfaces of the substrate main body. The disk shape has an outer diameter of 90 mm or more. A ratio D/T of the thickness D to the thickness T is 0.025 or more. The thickness of the film formed on an outer circumferential edge surface of the substrate main body is greater than the thickness of the film formed on each of the main surfaces, and the thickness of the film formed on each of the main surfaces is 80% or more of the thickness of the film formed on the outer circumferential edge surface.

A magnetic recording medium is provided and includes a magnetic layer, a non-magnetic layer, a base layer and a back layer, wherein an average thickness t.sub.T of the magnetic recording medium is t.sub.T≤5.3 a dimensional change amount Δw in a width direction with respect to a change in tension in a longitudinal direction is 700 ppm/N≤Δw, a thickness of the non-magnetic layer is 2.0 μm or less, a squareness ratio measured in a vertical direction of the magnetic recording medium is 65% or more, and the magnetic layer includes a magnetic powder.

A disk-shaped substrate for a magnetic disk has a diameter D of 85 mm or more and a thickness T of 0.6 mm or less, and a material of the substrate has a Young's modulus E of 90 GPa or more.

A heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) media stack is provided in which Iridium (Ir)-based materials may be utilized as a secondary underlayer instead of a Magnesium Oxide (MgO) underlayer utilized in conventional media stacks. Such Ir-based materials may include, e.g., pure Ir, Ir-based alloys, Ir-based compounds, as well as a granular Ir layer with segregants. The use of Ir or Ir-based materials as an underlayer provide advantages over the use of MgO as an underlayer. For example, DC sputtering can be utilized to deposit the layers of the media stack, where the deposition rate of Ir is considerably higher than that of MgO resulting in higher manufacturing production yields. Further still, less particles are generated during Ir-based layer deposition processes, and Ir-based underlayer can act as a better heat sink. Further still, the morphology and structure of a recording layer deposited on an Ir-based layer can be better controlled.

A soft underlayer (SUL) and methods for making an SUL are provided, the SUL having characteristics that make it compatible with the high temperature requirements associated with heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) media growth and writing, e.g., temperatures greater than 500° C. The SUL may have a high crystallization temperature of greater than 450° C. and a high Curie temperature greater than 300° C., for example. Additionally, the SUL can maintain a saturation magnetization value greater than, e.g., 9 kGauss, at such high temperatures, thereby having the ability to remain amorphous at temperatures up to, e.g., 650° C., and exhibiting a relatively flat integrated noise profile from approximately 300° C. to 650° C. Further still, a spacer layer material is chosen such that inter-diffusion does not occur at these high temperatures.

A substrate for a magnetic disk includes a substrate main body having two main surfaces and an outer circumferential edge surface that has a side wall surface and chamfered surfaces, and a film that is an alloy film containing Ni and P and provided on a surface of the substrate main body. A disk shape of the substrate main body has an outer diameter of 90 mm or more. A thickness T of the substrate that includes the film provided on the main surfaces is 0.520 mm or less. A total thickness D mm of the film on the main surfaces and the thickness T mm satisfy D≥0.0082/T−0.0015. A film thickness of the film on the outer circumferential edge surface is larger than a film thickness of the film on the main surfaces, and is 150% or less of the film thickness of the film on the main surfaces.

Aspects of the present disclosure provide a heat assisted magnetic recording HAMR media structure and methods for reducing the Curie temperature distribution to improve the signal-to-noise characteristics of HAMR media. A magnetic recording medium includes a substrate, a heat sink layer on the substrate, and a magnetic recording layer on the heat sink layer. The magnetic recording layer includes a plurality of magnetic recording grains configured for recording and comprising a first magnetic alloy. The magnetic recording layer further includes a plurality of segregants disposed to isolate the plurality of magnetic recording grains and comprising a second magnetic alloy. A Curie temperature of the second magnetic alloy is higher than a Curie temperature of the first magnetic alloy.

Embodiments include a magnetic recording medium containing ε-type iron oxide particles and having excellent SNR, a manufacturing method of ε-type iron oxide particles, and a manufacturing method of a magnetic recording medium. High SNR is achieved by a magnetic recording medium containing ε-type iron oxide particles, in which a coefficient of variation of an aspect ratio of the ε-type iron oxide particles is equal to or smaller than 18%, and a squareness ratio of the magnetic recording medium measured in a longitudinal direction of the magnetic recording medium is higher than 0.3 and equal to or lower than 0.5. The object is also achieved by the application of the magnetic recording medium.