text: Another benefit of using conductive polymers as a coating for neural devices is the ease of synthesis and flexibility in processing. Conducting polymers can be directly "deposited onto electrode surfaces with precisely controlled morphologies". There are two current ways conducting polymers can be deposited onto electrode surfaces which are chemical polymerization and electrochemical polymerization. In the application for neural implants, electrochemical polymerization is used because of its ability to create thin films and the ease of synthesis. Films can be formed on the order of 20 nm. Electrochemical polymerization (electrochemical deposition) is performed using a three-electrode configuration in a solution of the monomer of the desired polymer, a solvent, and an electrolyte (dopant). In the case of depositing a polymer coating onto electrode a common dopant used is poly (styrene sulfonate) or PSS because of its stability and biocompatibility.  Two common conductive polymers being investigated for coatings use PSS as a dopant to be electrochemically deposited onto the electrode surface (see sections below).