Abstract: An overcoat overcoat for a head and/or media surface is made of a hard, dense and durable silicon-carbide (SiC) layer. The SiC layer does not require an interlayer to promote adhesion to underlying magnetic or ceramic layers, thus reducing head-media spacing and increasing areal storage density and resolution. The SiC is formed in a manner that creates an overcoat with density, hardness, durability and corrosion resistance similar to DLC. The SiC overcoat formation process also penetrates less into underlying magnetic layers than is conventional, reducing further the spacing of active elements by inactive coatings. In an alternative embodiment, SiC may be formed by this process as an interlayer for a carbon overcoat such as DLC or ta-C. This allows the overcoat to be made thinner, since the interlayer is hard and dense, while retaining the chemical and other surface properties of the carbon overcoat.

Abstract: Plural carbon-containing overcoats are formed on a media-facing surface of an information storage system head. The plural carbon-containing overcoats can mitigate corrosion without increasing head-media spacing. A first of the overcoats may be formed prior to creation of contact or air bearing features on the media-facing surface, with a second overcoat formed after creation of air bearing features. The first overcoat may be etched back substantially or completely prior to formation of the second overcoat. Laminated carbon-containing overcoats may have greater strength and/or coverage than non-laminated overcoats of the same thickness. The overcoats may be formed of several forms of diamond-like carbon (DLC) or silicon-carbide (SiC).

Abstract: Durable landing pads for a slider air-bearing surface (ABS) are formed of tetrahedral amorphous carbon (t-aC) by filtered cathodic arc deposition. A hard carbon overcoat of the ABS is pierced to anchor the pads. The t-aC is extremely hard and highly stressed, and the pads may be laminated with a stress-relieving material. A rotating angled etching such as ion milling may be performed to undercut the hard carbon overcoat and further anchor the pads. A rotating angled deposition of t-aC may also be performed to round the pad tops, which may be trimmed to smooth corners.

Abstract: A transparent article comprising a base, at least four coated layers, and a top protective layer is disclosed. The coated layers include a first dereflecting region, a transparent layer of silver or other metal, and a second dereflecting region comprising a layer of titanium dioxide and a layer of another dielectric mater. A titanium dioxide layer may also be a component of the first dereflecting region. Each dereflecting region that includes a titanium dioxide layer also comprises a layer of a transparent oxide or other dielectric material having an index of refraction intermediate between about 2.7, the approximate index of titanium dioxide, and the index of the nearby base or top layer, respectively. The intermediate index material is preferably zinc oxide because this material can be relatively quickly and inexpensively deposited by reaction sputtering. Also disclosed is a method for depositing the coated layers by sputtering and reactive sputtering of titanium and silver, zinc or other materials.