Contact and Middle of Line Resistance Patents: Who Holds the Claims
33.3% of all 4,144 records sit with just five assignees, and the top ten combined reach 45.6% — this is a field with a concentrated head and a long tail behind it. Filings peaked at 240 in 2017. Across the last complete-year window, 2021 (210) to 2024 (160), volume fell 24%. Years from 2025 onward are still under-counted because publication typically lags filing by about 18 months, so the apparent drop at the very end of the chart should not be read as the field slowing further.
- 1TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO LTD10.3%
- 2INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE CORPORATION7.7%
- 3MONOLITHIC 3D INC6.1%
- 4INTEL CORP5.3%
- 5SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD4.0%
See the full contact and middle of line resistance 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 on contact and MOL resistance patents
Who holds the most patents in contact and middle-of-line resistance?
The leading assignee in this dataset holds 426 of the 4,144 records in scope, more than double the fifth-ranked holder's 166. The top five assignees combined account for 33.3% of all records, and the top ten reach 45.6%. That leaves a long tail across the remaining ranked companies, each with narrower filing programs focused on specific process steps or device architectures.
Is patent filing in this area growing or slowing?
Filing peaked in 2017 at 240 records and has not returned to that level since. Comparing the most recent complete years, 2021 (210 filings) to 2024 (160 filings), volume fell 24%. Figures for 2025 and 2026 appear lower still, but that reflects publication lag of roughly 18 months rather than an actual collapse in activity, so treat the very end of the trend line as incomplete.
What technical areas does contact and MOL resistance patent coverage span?
The bulk of records, 82.6% of the 4,144 in scope, classify under H01L for core semiconductor devices, with meaningful additional coverage in H10D, H10P and H10W device-architecture subclasses. Smaller but notable shares extend into memory device manufacture (H10B), digital data processing (G06F) and coating and surface deposition (C23C), reflecting how contact engineering intersects with adjacent process and system domains.
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 Contact and Middle of Line Resistance 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.