MAGNETIC ALLOY MATERIALS WITH HCP STABILIZED MICROSTRUCTURE, MAGNETIC RECORDING MEDIA COMPRISING SAME, AND FABRICATION METHOD THEREFOR

摘要

A magnetic recording medium comprises:(a) a non-magnetic substrate having a surface; and(b) a stack of thin film layers on the substrate surface, including a layer of a magnetic alloy material with a stabilized hexagonal close-packed (“hcp”) crystal structure, comprising: (i) a major amount of a ferromagnetic element with a first hcp crystal structure having a first c/a ratio, where “c” is a lattice parameter of the unique symmetry axis of the hcp structure along which a preferred direction of magnetization lies and “a” is a lattice parameter along a direction perpendicular to the c axis;(ii) a minor amount of a non-magnetic element with a face-centered cubic (fcc) crystal structure; and(iii) a minor amount of at least one hcp-stabilizing element.