choosing a saucepan material for creams and caramels
Unlined copper is sometimes used for serious sugar work, but it is very expensive and requires maintenance.

For general home use where you want to get more than one use from the pan, a good multi-ply stainless pan is probably the best choice in terms of utility and easy of maintenance.

You do not want ceramic coatings which can craze at high temperatures, nor teflon which can off-gas high temperatures, and which wears off over time.

For sugar work, non-stick is essentially not an issue at all:  short of completely burning your confection, the worst case for clean up is that you put water in the pan and bring it to a boil until the sticking candy dissolves.