History
Timeline
- 1949 Karl Suess KG founded near Munich, Germany
- 1963 First Mask Aligner developed
- 1970 First probe system developed
- 1971 Karl SUSS France founded
- 1974 The World's first double-side Mask Aligner launched
- 1980 Karl SUSS America founded in Waterbury, Vermont
- 1983 Karl SUSS Asia founded in Bangkok, Thailand
- 1988 Karl SUSS Japan founded in Yokohama, Japan
- 1989 First Substrate Bonder developed
- 1990 Karl SUSS Dresden founded near Dresden, Germany
- 1993 SUSS purchases the French SET company which brings spin coaters and device bonders into the SUSS product portfolio. Company trades under Karl SUSS France
- 1997 The world's first 300mm probing system launched
- 1998 SUSS launches its highly successful production cluster principle
- 1999 SUSS purchases Convac from Fairchild and renames it Karl SUSS Vaihingen
- 1999 The Holding Company of the Karl SUSS Group goes public under the name of SUSS MicroTec AG
- 2001 Karl SUSS subsidiaries renamed to SUSS MicroTec
- 2001 Image Technologies purchased, based in Palo Alto, USA
- 2002 SUSS MicroOptics founded in Neuchatel, Switzerland
- 2004 SUSS enters into a Joint Development Agreement with IBM to manufacture tools for a new solder bumping process
- 2006 SUSS launches the world’s fastest probe system, capable of testing an incredible 70,000 dies per hour
With over five decades of experience in the manufacturing of production and test equipment SUSS MicroTec has set the standards for precision and quality throughout the semiconductor industry. Continuous innovation and the ability to find new solutions for an ever-changing market have made SUSS MicroTec a technology leader and these factors are the very cornerstone of our success.
SUSS MicroTec was founded as Karl Süss in 1949 as a distributor of optical equipment from Leitz. Soon however Karl’s innovative spirit led him to develop products himself and together with Siemens, the company developed a simple photolithography machine for the production of transistors. This triggered the development of the first Mask Aligner, the now legendary MJB3. This early Mask Aligner, equipped with movable stage to align an already structured substrate to a mask, was manufactured in a small garage in Munich.
Today SUSS MicroTec is a leading supplier of production and process technology for the semiconductor industry. Primarily serving emerging markets, which are currently converting to the new technologies, SUSS has a global installed base of over 8,000 systems. Still headquartered in Munich, Germany, SUSS has approximately 700 employees worldwide and provides support from a network of sales and service centers in North America, Europe, Asia and Japan.
In May 1999, the company Karl Suss went public as SUSS MicroTec AG and is listed in the Prime Standard segment of the German Stock Exchange. In 2001 the whole group was renamed into SUSS MicroTec. This signaled a new era for the company who started to develop more production-orientated tools.
Our customers range from IDMs through foundries and fabless facilities to universities, laboratories and research institutes. We support our customers right through their production curve - much groundbreaking research is performed on our lab systems before the process is refined and made ready for production on our fully automated tools. Our experienced team of application and service engineers are always on hand to offer advice and support.
SUSS has had a long and distinguished history of product and technical innovation - starting with the development of the first ever Mask Aligner in 1963. Over the years SUSS has launched many industry firsts such as the first fully automatic bond cluster, the first ever 300 mm prober or the GYRSET closed cover coating technology for fringe-free coating with reduced resist consumption. SUSS was also the first to discover that proximity full field lithography is the best possible solution for thick resist applications such as MEMS and wafer-level packaging. Most recently SUSS teamed up with IBM to develop tools for IBM’s revolutionary new C4 solder bumping process called C4NP. Regardless what the future trend is, SUSS sees their responsibility in being ready to help companies and their engineers adapt. SUSS makes innovation, quality and customer service a priority – not just packaged into a motto but in everything we do.
