Beam Delivery and Scanning Optics Patents: Who Leads, Gaps 2026
Beam Delivery and Scanning Optics Patents: Concentration at the Top, a Long Tail Behind It
91.0% of all filings sit with five companies. 14,730 of 16,192 records in scope belong to the top five assignees — this field is not fragmented, it is gated. Filings peaked at 925 in 2017 and have declined since; the most recent complete comparison shows 569 records in 2021 falling to 358 in 2024, a -37% move over three years. Years after 2024 are still filling in under publication lag and should not be read as a continued drop.
- 1ASML NETHERLANDS BV13,084
- 2ASML HLDG NV1,118
- 3NIKON SLM SOLUTIONS AG208
- 4CARL ZEISS SMT GMBH174
- 5IPG PHOTONICS CORP146
See the full beam delivery and scanning optics analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions about this landscape
Who holds the most patents in beam delivery and scanning optics?
One assignee holds 13,084 of the 16,192 records in scope, an overwhelming majority of the field. The next four companies combined bring the top-five total to 14,730 records, or 91.0% of all records in scope. Beyond that point volume drops sharply — fifth place holds 146 records and tenth place only 38 — so the practical competitive set is a small group of companies rather than a broad market of filers.
Is patent filing in this field growing or shrinking?
Filing peaked in 2017 at 925 records and has declined since, with a measured drop from 569 records in 2021 to 358 in 2024, a -37% change. Years after 2024 show lower counts still, but that is expected under an 18-month publication lag rather than proof of a further slowdown. Anyone assessing current activity should treat 2025-2026 figures as provisional and recheck once they mature.
Why does photolithography (G03F) dominate the IPC classification?
G03F appears in 64.5% of the 16,192 records in scope, far ahead of any other class, because the leading assignees in this dataset build lithography exposure tools where beam delivery and scanning optics are core subsystems rather than standalone products. G02B, the general optical-elements class, covers only 8.8% of records by comparison. That imbalance means most of the claim density here is tied to lithography-specific implementations, not general-purpose optical scanning hardware.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Beam Delivery and Scanning Optics covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.