CMP Polishing Equipment Patents: Who Leads, Trends 2026
- Concentrated at the top. Five assignees hold 72.4% of the 58 records in scope, and ten hold 89.7% — this is a field with very little room for a new entrant to build a broad position.
- Filing has gone flat, not upward. Activity peaked in 2019 at 5 filings and had fallen to 2 by the 2022 midpoint, with 2026 not yet reflecting the usual 18-month publication lag.
- The oldest patents still carry the most weight. The most-cited record in the set, US5720845A on wafer polisher endpoint detection, has 112 citations — a sign that foundational carrier and endpoint-detection claims from the 1990s still shape freedom-to-operate today.
What this landscape covers
This landscape tracks 58 published records matching CMP equipment, chemical mechanical polishing tools and wafer polishers, filtered to claims touching platen design, retaining rings, in-situ endpoint detection, pad conditioning and removal uniformity. The scope spans 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off, across IPC classes covering grinding and polishing (B24B), semiconductor device processing (H01L) and related abrasive and cleaning classes.
The picture that emerges is a mature sub-field: a small set of equipment makers and semiconductor manufacturers hold most of the filings, citation weight sits with older foundational patents, and recent-year activity has slowed rather than accelerated.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 58 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims fall under.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings rose to a peak of 5 in 2019, then eased back; by the 2022 midpoint the count had dropped to 2, and 2026 shows 0 filings so far — expected given the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication, but consistent with a field that is not expanding.
IPC subclass composition
B24B (grinding and polishing) appears on 63.8% of the 58 records and H01L (semiconductor devices) on 56.9%, confirming this is squarely an equipment-and-process overlap rather than a pure materials or pure tooling field. Smaller classes — B24D abrasives at 10.3%, B08B cleaning at 6.9% — mark narrower claim niches rather than core territory.
Shares are the percentage of the 58 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on CMP Polishing Equipment with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about cmp polishing equipment and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this set
Retaining ring for a chemical mechanical polishing tool (US20080160885A1)
A retaining ring for a chemical mechanical polishing tool comprises a pad side surface with an edge portion adjacent its outer circumference, where a surface normal of the edge portion forms an acute angle with the surface normal of the pad side surface. The ring may additionally or alternatively include at least one groove running from the inner to the outer circumference, itself bearing an edge portion in the same acute-angle relationship.Filed by GLOBALFOUNDRIES, published 2008-07-03 — a claim scoped narrowly to retaining-ring edge geometry rather than the whole polishing head.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5720845A | Wafer polisher head used for chemical-mechanical polishing and endpoint detection | 112 |
| 2 | US20020098777A1 | Multizone carrier with process monitoring system for chemical-mechanical planarization tool | 92 |
| 3 | US6923711B2 | Multizone carrier with process monitoring system for chemical-mechanical planarization tool | 26 |
| 4 | US20030027506A1 | Apparatus for distributing a fluid through a polishing pad | 22 |
| 5 | US6599175B2 | Apparatus for distributing a fluid through a polishing pad | 19 |
| 6 | US20080160885A1 | Retaining ring for a chemical mechanical polishing tool | 15 |
| 7 | US6899609B2 | CMP equipment for use in planarizing a semiconductor wafer | 15 |
| 8 | US20030003850A1 | Method and apparatus for distributing fluid to a polishing surface during chemical mechanical polishing | 15 |
| 9 | CN101439494A | CMP设备研磨头清洗装置 | 14 |
| 10 | KR1019990044998A | Mrthod and apparatus of monitoring polishing pad wear during process | 12 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older records — treat these as markers of influence on later filings, not as evidence the underlying claims are still the strongest available today.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Reading the ranking, the trend and the citation table together points to a field where the core mechanical claims were staked out early and have not been seriously contested since.
A small group holds most of the field
With five assignees accounting for 72.4% of the 58 records in scope and ten accounting for 89.7%, a newcomer filing broad platen or endpoint-detection claims is filing directly over occupied ground. The long tail below tenth place is thin — single-digit and single-filing entrants.
Activity has cooled since 2019
The filing count peaked at 5 in 2019 and had already fallen to 2 by the 2022 midpoint. None of the leading assignees show growth in the latest tracked year; several show a full drop to zero. That is a flat-to-declining trend, not evidence the technology is exhausted — but it does mean less fresh prior art to track.
Old carrier and endpoint patents still anchor the field
US5720845A on wafer polisher endpoint detection carries 112 citations, well ahead of the rest of the table, with multizone-carrier process-monitoring claims also drawing high counts. Any new filing on endpoint detection or carrier monitoring should be checked against this lineage first.
Equipment and device-process claims overlap heavily
Most records sit in both grinding/polishing (B24B) and semiconductor device (H01L) classes at once, confirming CMP equipment claims are typically drafted with the downstream device process in view, not as standalone tooling.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to cmp polishing equipment, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claims, and where the gaps sit
The ranked leaders are a mix of equipment specialists and integrated device manufacturers, with momentum flat across the group in the latest tracked year.
One filer well ahead of the field
The top assignee holds 19 of the 58 records — more than the next several combined — concentrated in core polishing-head and carrier claims that recur across the citation table.
No leader is currently accelerating
Recent-year momentum data shows the top-ranked assignees at 0 filings in the latest tracked year, several down from prior activity. That flatness across the leaderboard, not just at the bottom, is unusual and worth watching for a re-acceleration.
Filing is US- and Korea-centred
The United States receives the largest share of filings (21), followed by South Korea (11) and PCT/WIPO filings (6), with Taiwan, China and the EPO each in single digits — a pattern consistent with US and Korean fabs driving equipment procurement and IP strategy.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Applied Materials, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| SpeedFam-IPEC Corporation | 0 | — |
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| International Business Machines Corporation | 0 | — |
| Cana Diamond Tech LLC | 0 | — |
| ProMOS Technologies Inc. | 0 | — |
| Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation | 0 | — |
| Dongbu Electronics Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, sourcing, or identifying open claim space.
Check freedom-to-operate against the top-cited records
Before drafting new carrier, retaining-ring or endpoint-detection claims, run a clearance check against the highest-citation records in this set — their descendants are likely to be broad and well-tested.
Run a clearance search in EurekaTrack the flat filers for a re-acceleration
Several leading assignees dropped to zero filings in the latest tracked year. A renewed filing burst from any of them would be an early signal of a new product cycle.
Set up assignee monitoring in EurekaScope claims in the under-claimed branches
Pad-conditioning wear sensing and multizone pressure control for advanced-node uniformity show thinner coverage than the core platen and carrier claims — a more realistic place to build new IP than the crowded center.
Explore white space in EurekaFrequently asked questions
Filing in this dataset is concentrated: five assignees hold 72.4% of the 58 records in scope, and ten hold 89.7%. The top assignee alone accounts for 19 records, well ahead of the rest of the ranked field, which includes both dedicated polishing equipment makers and integrated device manufacturers who file on their own process tooling. Below the top ten, coverage thins out quickly into single-record filers, so the practical competitive set is small.
Filing activity peaked at 5 records in 2019 and has since declined, sitting at 2 by the 2022 midpoint and showing 0 in 2026 so far. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the most recent year always understates true activity, but the multi-year trend before that lag effect is flat to declining rather than growing. That does not mean the technology is exhausted — it can mean the core mechanical claims are already well staked out and new work is happening in narrower niches.
This filing, from GLOBALFOUNDRIES and published in 2008, claims a retaining ring for a chemical mechanical polishing tool with a specific edge-portion geometry on the pad side surface, where the surface normal of that edge forms an acute angle with the surface normal of the main pad surface. It also covers, additionally or alternatively, a groove running from the inner to outer circumference with the same acute-angle edge relationship. The claim scope is narrow — retaining-ring edge and groove geometry — not the polishing head or process as a whole, so it blocks specific ring designs rather than CMP tooling generally.
Relative to the dense coverage on platen design, carrier assemblies and retaining rings, areas such as pad-conditioning wear sensing, optical endpoint detection tuned for non-metal layers, and multizone pressure control for advanced-node uniformity show thinner filing density in this dataset. These are technically specific niches rather than broad claim gaps, so a new filing there is more likely to clear existing prior art than one targeting core platen or carrier mechanics. Retaining ring groove geometry variants also show room beyond the acute-angle design already claimed in the representative filing.
US5720845A, covering a wafer polisher head with integrated endpoint detection, leads the set with 112 citations — well ahead of any other record. Two multizone-carrier process-monitoring patents and two fluid-distribution-through-pad patents round out the most-cited group, with citation counts in the low double digits. Because citation counts favour older records in any searched corpus, treat this as a map of foundational influence rather than a ranking of current best practice.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.