Silicon carbide overcoats for information storage systems and method of making

A device for an electromagnetic information storage system, the device containing a plurality of adjoining solid layers comprising:

• a self-supporting substrate layer,
• a magnetic layer disposed adjacent said substrate layer,
• an outerlayer containing tetrahedral-amorphous carbon, and
• an interlayer containing SiC separating said magnetic layer from said outerlayer,
• wherein said outerlayer and said interlayer have a combined thickness of less than about 60 Å.

A method of making a head for an information storage system, the method comprising:

• providing a wafer substrate,
• forming a plurality of solid layers on said substrate in an arrangement operable as an electromagnetic transducer,
• forming a layer containing SiC on said transducer, including depositing a plurality of SiC molecules on said transducer and simultaneously flattening said layer by redistributing a portion of said SiC molecules,
• wherein redistributing said portion of said SiC molecules includes bombarding said SiC molecules with a beam of inert, electrically neutral atoms.