SPUTTERING TARGET

Provided is a sputtering target that can be used to form a buffer layer that, if a magnetic recording layer granular film is layered above a ruthenium underlayer, makes good separation of magnetic crystal particles in the magnetic recording layer granular film possible. The sputtering target contains a metal and an oxide, wherein: if the entirety of the contained metal is a single metal, the contained metal is a non-magnetic metal that includes an HCP structure; the lattice constant a of the HCP structure included in the non-magnetic metal is 2.59-2.72 angstroms; the contained metal includes at least 4 at% of ruthenium metal with respect to the entirety of the metal; the content of the oxide is 20-50 vol%; and the melting point of the contained oxide is at least 1700 DEG C. 本发明提供可以在使磁记录层颗粒膜层叠于Ru基底层的上方的情况下能够使磁记录层颗粒膜中的磁性晶粒彼此良好地分离的缓冲层的形成中使用的溅射靶。一种含有金属和氧化物的溅射靶，其中，所含有的所述金属在使其整体为单一的金属时成为含有hcp结构的非磁性金属，该非磁性金属中含有的所述hcp结构的晶格常数a为以上且以下，并且，所含有的所述金属中含有相对于该金属的整体为4原子％以上的金属Ru，并且，含有20体积％以上且50体积％以下的所述氧化物，所含有的所述氧化物的熔点为1700℃以上。