Some of these materials are even called "smart." Described in long-term road maps, improvements in performance of semiconductor devices and components rely on progress or even real breakthroughs in physical technology, material science and innovative chemistry.

H.C. Starck provides cutting edge functional materials with its CLEVIOS™ electro-conductive polymers based on thiophenes. The use of electro-conductive polymers is growing rapidly in many fields of application from antistatic coatings to through-hole plating in printed circuit boards and new displays.

The latest developments suggest that such polymers may lead the way to new transistor and storage-device technologies. If this vision is realized, polymer chips will be able to be manufactured via a roll-to-roll process, thus offering versatile and low-cost devices. Unlike silicon technology, in the future it might take just seconds rather than days to make a chip.

H.C. Starck is also developing thiophene-derived compounds that can be used as organic conductors and semiconductors in polymer electronics.