Suss Microtec Inc.

Suss Microtec Inc., a foreign-owned, self-certified small disadvantaged business headquartered in Corona, California, supplies specialized semiconductor process equipment and maintenance services to federal research agencies as a prime contractor on 162 of 163 recent awards. The vendor operates almost exclusively in full-and-open competitions with no set-aside designation across most of its footprint, though it has secured total small business set-aside awards from NASA and NIST; Suss Microtec competes predominantly on sole-source procurement authority because it is the only qualified supplier of its specialized lithography aligners, wafer bonders, mask writers, and coating/developing systems.

Suss Microtec's capability portfolio centers on capital equipment sales and maintenance for semiconductor fabrication and research. The vendor manufactures and delivers wafer bonding systems, photolithography aligners (including MA8/BA8 mask aligners and contact mask-aligner systems with align-for-bond capabilities), automated chrome etch and development systems, inkjet printers with micron-scale line-width control, and related MEMS processing equipment. Representative prime awards include a $946.8 thousand firm fixed-price purchase order from NIST (September 2023) for delivery and installation of a wafer bonder and lithography aligner system to the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, a $727.8 thousand purchase order from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (June 2022) for a contact mask-aligner system, a $417.6 thousand sole-source purchase order from NIST (June 2023) for an automated development and chrome etch system, and a $208.2 thousand total small business set-aside purchase order from NASA Shared Services Center (September 2024) for a semi-automated coating/developing platform for silicon carbide integrated circuit development.

Suss Microtec's customer concentration is heavily skewed toward research and development agencies. The top five customers account for 45% of awards but drive 80% of combined potential value: NIST leads with 26 awards and $3.5 million combined potential value, followed by the Naval Research Office with 19 awards ($850 thousand), NASA Goddard with 9 awards ($1.3 million), Army Materiel Command RD&E with 8 awards ($1.5 million), and NASA Shared Services Center with 8 awards ($632 thousand). Recent activity has declined — four awards in 2023 to two in 2026 — with only two awards (combined potential value $99 thousand) facing completion in the next twenty-four months. The vendor's work is classified under NAICS 334518 (Semiconductor Machinery Manufacturing) and PSC 4310 (Laboratory Equipment and Supplies); 47 awards carry the laboratory equipment PSC and 31 carry semiconductor machinery manufacturing NAICS. Suss Microtec holds a single subcontract relationship as a material supplier under KBR Wyle Services on an Air Force Research Laboratory optoelectronic technology research task (December 2023). Performance occurs predominantly at customer sites — NASA Goddard, NIST facilities, and Air Force technical centers — with manufacturing and initial assembly occurring in Germany.