Process for manufacturing magnetic recording medium

Claim 1

A process for manufacturing magnetic recording media comprising the steps of: sputtering a metal alloy comprised of nickel and cobalt as a thin film onto a non-magnetic substrate consisting essentially of an anodized aluminum alloy in an inert gas containing nitrogen, said substrate being maintained at a temperature of from about room temperature to 300° C. during said sputtering step thereby forming a nitrogen containing metal thin film comprised of nitrogen and said metal alloy on said anodized aluminum alloy substrate; and heating said nitrogen containing thin film and said substrate to evaporate the nitrogen absorbed in said thin film during the sputtering step thereby forming a magnetic recording media with a metal alloy thin film on said substrate, said metal alloy thin film having a composition of less than 35 atomic % nickel with the balance being substantially cobalt, said metal alloy thin film having a hexagonal close-packed crystalline structure wherein the C-axes of the cobalt-nickel crystals forming said structure are in the plane of said recording media.