Perpendicular magnetic recording medium, method of manufacturing the same, and magnetic storage unit

1. A perpendicular magnetic recording medium, comprising:

a substrate;

a soft magnetic underlayer formed on the substrate;

a seed layer of an amorphous material formed on the soft magnetic underlayer;

an oxidation prevention layer formed on the seed layer;

an underlayer formed on the oxidation prevention layer, the underlayer including a plurality of crystal grains formed of one of Ru and a Ru alloy having an hcp crystal structure, and a first air gap part configured to separate the crystal grains from each other; and

a recording layer formed on the underlayer, the recording layer including a plurality of magnetic particles having a magnetocrystalline easy axis in a direction substantially perpendicular to a surface of the substrate, and one of a second air gap part and a non-magnetic non-solid-solution phase, the one being configured to separate the magnetic particles from each other,

wherein the oxidation prevention layer includes a noble metal element other than Ru, the noble metal element being Pt.

2. The perpendicular magnetic recording medium as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:

an additional underlayer between the seed layer and the underlayer,

wherein the additional underlayer is formed of a continuous film into which a first crystal grain and a second crystal grain are joined through a grain boundary part, the first and second crystal grains being formed of one of Ru and a Ru alloy.

3. The perpendicular magnetic recording medium as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the Ru alloy having the hcp crystal structure is a Ru—X alloy, where X is at least one selected from the group consisting of Ta, Nb, Co, Cr, Fe, Ni, Mn, and C.

4. The perpendicular magnetic recording medium as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a film thickness of the oxidation prevention layer is greater than or equal to 2.0 nm.

5. The perpendicular magnetic recording medium as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the seed layer comprises at least one amorphous non-magnetic material selected from the group consisting of Ta, Ti, Mo, W, Re, Hf, and Mg.

6. The perpendicular magnetic recording medium as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the magnetic particles of the recording layer comprise one selected from the group consisting of Co, CoCr, CoPt, CoCrTa, CoCrPt, and CoCrPt-M, where said M is at least one selected from the group consisting of B, Ta, Cu, W, Mo, and Nb.

7. The perpendicular magnetic recording medium as claimed in claim 1 , wherein:

the soft magnetic underlayer comprises a first soft magnetic layer, a non-magnetic coupling layer, and a second soft magnetic layer stacked in this order from a side of the substrate; and

each of the first soft magnetic layer and the second soft magnetic layer has a magnetocrystalline easy axis in plane, and magnetization of the first soft magnetic layer and magnetization of the second soft magnetic layer are oriented in plane and are antiferromagnetically coupled to each other.

8. A magnetic storage unit, comprising:

a recording and reproduction part including a magnetic head; and

the perpendicular magnetic recording medium as claimed in claim 1 .