For perpendicular magnetic recording, a design of using MgO as a seed layer and an intermediate layer is introduced. By annealing the multilayer film with a stack structure of MgO/[FePt/MgO](3) at 600degreesC for 1 min, nanograins of FePt with a high perpendicular magnetic anisotropy are obtained on a glass substrate. This high magnetic anisotropy results from the (001) texture of L1(0) phase developed along the film normal. A thin MgO layer ranging 1.0 to 3.0 nm in thickness plays an important role in developing the (001) texture of L1(0) FePt and magnetically decoupling the FePt particles. Varying a layer thickness of the FePt layer enables to control the crystalline structure and the magnetic properties, resulting in the films with a controllable FePt grain size as small as several nanometers, a high remanence squareness, and a high coercivity. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.