Chemical Mechanical Polishing Slurry Patents: Who Leads and Where Filing Is Heading
41.2% concentration. The top 5 assignees hold 2,146 of 5,210 records in scope — filing is concentrated at the top, not spread evenly across the field. Filings rose from 226 in 2017 to a peak of 254 in 2020, then declined to 141 by 2024 — a 36% drop across the 2021-to-2024 window that is the last stretch with complete publication data. Readings for 2025 and 2026 will keep rising as later filings publish, so they should not be read as a continued decline yet.
- 1APPLIED MATERIALS INC18.3%
- 2RODEL HLDG INC6.8%
- 3VERSUM MATERIALS US LLC6.0%
- 4CMC MATERIALS INC5.8%
- 5TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO LTD4.2%
See the full chemical mechanical polishing slurries 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 CMP slurry patents
Who holds the most CMP slurry patents?
One assignee leads with 954 records, more than four times the fifth-ranked filer's 220. The top five assignees combined hold 2,146 of the 5,210 records in scope, or 41.2% of the field, so a small group of companies controls a disproportionate share of core removal-rate and abrasive-composition claims. Anyone entering this space should map their planned claims against these leaders' portfolios first, since they set the density baseline for tungsten, copper and oxide CMP chemistry.
Is CMP slurry patent filing growing or slowing down?
Filing activity peaked at 254 records in 2020 and has since declined, falling from 221 in 2021 to 141 in 2024 — a 36% drop over that three-year span, which is the most recent period with complete publication data. Figures for 2025 and 2026 will rise as later filings publish, since publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so those years should not yet be read as continuing the decline. The pattern through 2024 is consistent with a maturing core chemistry rather than a growing one.
What technology areas dominate CMP slurry patents?
Grinding and polishing (IPC class B24B) and semiconductor devices (H01L) each appear in more than half of all 5,210 records, at 55.6% and 54.4% respectively, and nearly a third of records also carry a polishing-composition classification (C09G). Because records can carry multiple classes, these shares overlap substantially, showing that most claims are drafted to cover both the abrasive chemistry and its semiconductor process context together rather than one in isolation. Corrosion and metal-removal chemistry (C23F) and analytical testing methods (G01N) are comparatively thin by contrast.
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 Chemical Mechanical Polishing Slurries 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.