Ultratech Engineers

Ultratech's machines take the ultimate in high-tech baby steps. The company makes step-and-repeat photolithography systems -- called steppers -- that help manufacturers produce semiconductors, thin-film heads for disk drives, and micromachined components. Chip makers use the steppers in photolithography, a process during which device features are imprinted on semiconductor wafer surfaces through repeated exposures to patterns of light. The company's steppers expose a small section of the wafer, then "step" to an adjacent site to repeat the process. Intel accounts for about one-third of Ultratech's sales. Customers outside the US provide more than 60% of sales.