“Enabling Technology” Polymers

Abstract

An area of polymer science that is of current and growing industrial importance is where the polymer is the enabling technology that makes a component, system, or process work. Without the special polymer, the technology simply does not operate in a useful manner. The characteristics of this arena are very different from high volume commodity or engineering polymers. Performance is the overwhelming concern and the material is likely to be highly specialized to achieve optimum performance. Cost is of minor concern because the material is used in small quantities and the value it adds to the end use is exceedingly high. Supply is an issue because even at ultra-high prices the sales dollars generated are too small to be of interest to a large polymer producer. In addition, these polymers are often developed by an end-user company which is not in the business of producing polymers and not eager to share the end-use value with a partner. One of the industrially important examples of polymers as enabling technology, is photoresists used in semiconductor chip manufacture. Within Raychem examples include: acrylic backbone polymers with crystallizable side chains; conductive, crystalline polymer composites; polymer-dispersed liquid crystal compositions; crosslinked fluorinated aromatic polymides or polyethers which will be discussed in detail.