The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 24, 2003
Filed:
Jul. 12, 1999
Hua Han, Fremont, CA (US);
Francis W. Ryan, Martinez, CA (US);
Carolyn S. Robinson, San Jose, CA (US);
Thomas P. Ultican, San Jose, CA (US);
Other;
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.