TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - POLYMERS - Preferred Materials : The substrate has an ASTM D 1003 abrasion resistance at most10 (especially at most5)% based on an ISO 3537 Taber method with 500 cycles with 500g load per rub using a CS10F stone and a scratch resistance at most 15 (especially at most5) by the haze-increasing ASTM D 1003 method using a scratch loading as per the DIN 52348 sand test.The roll-off angle for water droplets of 10mul volume is at most20degrees.The optionally transparent polymeric substrates are of:(i) thermosetting resins, especially diallylphthalate, epoxy, urea- or melamine-formaldehyde or phenol-formaldehyde resins, polyimides, silicone rubber and/or unsaturated polyesters or(ii) thermoplastic resins, especially polyolefins (eg polyethylene or polypropylene), polycarbonates, polyestercarbonates, polyesters (eg polyethylene- or polybutylene-terephthalate), polystyrene, styrene copolymers, styrene-acrylonitrile resins, rubber-containing styrene graft copolymers (eg ABS), polyamides, polyurethanes, polyphenylenesufide and/or PVC.The substrate can have a coating of a hydro- or oleo-phobicizing agent, especially a surfactant (and in particular a monolayer of a thiol (eg decanethiol)) and there can also be an intermediate primer layer, especially of a noble metal such as a 10-100nm Au layer.Preferred Process : The required topography is imparted by treatment before or after application of the coating and a phobicizer is applied before measurement of the contact angle. The coating is applied on at least2 surface areas having different requirements for the coating process, especially on at least104 areas of size at most9 (especially at most0.4)cm2, such coating being effected by covering some of the areas with a (preferably photoresist) mask. The process parameters of the coating process can be the same on different areas.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - CERAMICS AND GLASS - Preferred Materials : The substrate has an ASTM D 1003 abrasion resistance at most10 (especially at most5)% based on an ISO 3537 Taber method with 500 cycles with 500g load per rub using a CS10F stone and a scratch resistance at most 15 (especially at most5) by the haze-increasing ASTM D 1003 method using a scratch loading as per the DIN 52348 sand test.The roll-off angle for water droplets of 10mul volume is at most20degrees. The ceramic substrates are oxides, fluorides, carbides, nitrides, selenides, tellurides or sulfides of metals or of B, Si or Ge, especially(i) oxides of Zr, Ti, Ta, Al, Hf, Si, In , Sn, Y or Ce;(ii) fluorides of La, Mg, Ca, Li, Y, Ba, Pb or Nd or cryolite (Na3AlF6);(iii) SiC or WC; (iv) ZnS or CdS;(v) Ge or Si selenides or tellurides; or(vi) B-, Ti- or Si-nitrides.The glass substrates are (i) earth alkali-alkali silicate glasses based on CaO, Na2O, SiO2 or Al oxide and preferably having a 50nm-5mu coating of ZrO2. The substrate can have a coating of a hydro- or oleo-phobicizing agent, especially a surfactant (and in particular a monolayer of a thiol (eg decanethiol)) and there can also be an intermediate primer layer, especially of a noble metal such as a 10-100nm Au layer.Preferred Process : The required topography is imparted by treatment before or after application of the coating and a phobicizer is applied before measurement of the contact angle. The coating is applied on at least2 surface areas having different requirements for the coating process, especially on at least104 areas of size at most9 (especially at most0.4)cm2, such coating being effected by covering some of the areas with a (preferably photoresist) mask.The process parameters of the coating process can be the same on different areas.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Materials : The substrate has an ASTM D 1003 abrasion resistance at most10 (especially at most5)% based on an ISO 3537 Taber method with 500 cycles with 500g load per rub using a CS10F stone and a scratch resistance at most 15 (especially at most5) by the haze-increasing ASTM D 1003 method using a scratch loading as per the DIN 52348 sand test.The roll-off angle for water droplets of 10mul volume is at most20degrees. The optionally transparent carbon layer is a diamond-like coating (DLC) on a suitable substrate. The substrate can have a coating of a hydro- or oleo-phobicizing agent, especially a surfactant (and in particular a monolayer of a thiol (eg decanethiol)) and there can also be an intermediate primer layer, especially of a noble metal such as a 10-100nm Au layer.Preferred Process : The required topography is imparted by treatment before or after application of the coating and a phobicizer is applied before measurement of the contact angle. The coating is applied on at least2 surface areas having different requirements for the coating process, especially on at least104 areas of size at most9 (especially at most0.4)cm2, such coating being effected by covering some of the areas with a (preferably photoresist) mask. The process parameters of the coating process can be the same on different areas.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Materials : The substrate can have a coating of a hydro- or oleo-phobicizing agent, especially a surfactant (and in particular a monolayer of a thiol (eg decanethiol)). EXAMPLE - A surface with a contact angle of 153degrees, a roll-off angle below 10degrees, an ISO/DIS 13696 514nm light scattering loss of 0.1% forwards and 0.18% backwards and an Slog(f) integral of 0.4 was obtained in a number of trial runs using glass with a 1mu ZrO2 coating together with a 50nm Au layer and a solution-applied perfluorooctane layer, the ZrO2 being applied by electron ray deposition at 0.35nm/second and 1x10-4 bar with a substrate temperature of 573K.