After some years in the semiconductor industry, Prof. Schultrich (born 1942) worked for more than ten years at the Technical University of Dresden, Dresden in the field of theoretical physics and its application to the micromechanics of solids. He then joined the Central Institute of Solid State Physics and Materials Research of the Academy of Sciences, Dresden working for ten years on fundamental problems of preparation and properties of refractory carbides and nitrides and corresponding composites (hardmetals and cermets) and their application in the tool industry. From 1990 up to his retirement, he headed the PVD (physical vapour deposition) thin film department in the Fraunhofer Institute for Materials and Beam Technology, Dresden. His activities were concentrated on arc and laser-assisted ablation and deposition technologies for industrial applications with the main focus on carbon-based materials. Here his group achieved the breakthrough for the industrial maturity of ta-C (tetrahedral amorphous carbon) films and their preparation.