An Fe—Co—Al alloy magnetic thin film contains, in terms of atomic ratio, 20% to 30% Co and 1.5% to 2.5% Al. The Fe—Co—Al alloy magnetic thin film has a crystallographic orientation such that the (100) plane is parallel to a substrate surface and the <100> direction is perpendicular to the substrate surface. The Fe—Co—Al alloy magnetic thin film has good magnetic properties, that is, a magnetization of 1440 emu/cc or more, a coercive force of less than 100 Oe, a damping factor of less than 0.01, and an FMR linewidth ΔH at 30 GHz of less than 70 Oe.

An FeCoAl alloy magnetic thin film contains, in terms of atomic ratio, 20% to 30% Co and 1.5% to 2.5% Al. The FeCoAl alloy magnetic thin film has a crystallographic orientation such that the (100) plane is parallel to a substrate surface and the <100> direction is perpendicular to the substrate surface. The FeCoAl alloy magnetic thin film has good magnetic properties, that is, a magnetization of 1440 emu/cc or more, a coercive force of less than 100 Oe, a damping factor of less than 0.01, and an FMR linewidth H at 30 GHz of less than 70 Oe.

With regard to a glass substrate 1 according to the present invention, a value of an amendment concentricity AC that has taken into consideration Sk and/or Ku calculated from a shape profile over the whole circumference of an inside hole, or the skewness is within a predetermined range. The glass substrate for a magnetic recording medium can stably read servo information including track information stored on a magnetic disk when the glass substrate is used for an HDD.

With regard to a glass substrate 1 according to the present invention, a value of an amendment concentricity AC that has taken into consideration Sk and/or Ku calculated from a shape profile over the whole circumference of an inside hole, or the skewness is within a predetermined range. The glass substrate for a magnetic recording medium can stably read servo information including track information stored on a magnetic disk when the glass substrate is used for an HDD.

A substrate for suspension comprises a metallic substrate, an insulating layer formed on the metallic substrate, a conductor layer formed on the insulating layer, and a cover layer covering the conductor layer. The insulating layer and the cover layer are formed from different materials, whose coefficients of hygroscopic expansion are in the range between 310.sup.6/% RH and 3010.sup.6/% RH. The difference between the coefficients of hygroscopic expansion of the two materials is 510.sup.6/% RH or less.

A device that includes a near field transducer (NFT); at least one cladding layer adjacent the NFT; and a discontinuous metal layer positioned between the NFT and the at least one cladding layer.

Various methods for attaching a crystalline write pole onto an amorphous substrate and the resulting structures are described in detail herein. Further, the resulting structure may have a magnetic moment exceeding 2.4 Tesla. Still further, methods for depositing an epitaxial crystalline write pole on a crystalline seed or template material to ensure that the phase of the write pole is consistent with the high moment phase of the template material are also described in detail herein.

A substrate for suspension comprises a metallic substrate, an insulating layer formed on the metallic substrate, a conductor layer formed on the insulating layer, and a cover layer covering the conductor layer. The insulating layer and the cover layer are formed from different materials, whose coefficients of hygroscopic expansion are in the range between 310.sup.6/% RH and 3010.sup.6/% RH. The difference between the coefficients of hygroscopic expansion of the two materials is 510.sup.6/% RH or less.