Epitaxial Source Drain and Selective Epitaxy Patents
64.2% of all 1,922 records sit with just five assignees, and 75.8% with ten — this is a field where claim space is already occupied at the top. Filings peaked at 110 in 2019 and ran near 97 in 2017. The 2021-to-2024 span, the most recent period the data supports as complete, shows a decline from 89 to 57 filings — a 36% drop. Publication lag of roughly 18 months means 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in and should not be read as a continuation of that decline.
- 1TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO LTD683
- 2ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES INC159
- 3GLOBALFOUNDRIES US INC158
- 4GLOBALFOUNDRIES INC118
- 5INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE CORPORATION115
See the full epitaxial source drain and selective epitaxy 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 field
Who holds the most patents in selective epitaxial growth and source-drain epitaxy?
One assignee leads with 683 of the 1,922 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 115. The top five assignees together account for 64.2% of all records, and the top ten for 75.8%, so the field is heavily concentrated among a small number of large logic foundries and IDMs. Anyone assessing freedom to operate here should expect to run into that leader's prior art first, since its filing volume covers a large share of the core process and device claims.
Is patent filing in this field growing or slowing down?
Filings fell from 89 in 2021 to 57 in 2024, a 36% decline over that three-year span, which is the most recent period the dataset supports as complete. Filing activity had peaked earlier, at 110 in 2019. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by about 18 months, so the true recent trend is understated rather than confirmed as still falling.
What does US20060228850A1 actually cover?
This Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company filing, dated 2006-10-12, addresses the pattern-loading effect in selective epitaxial growth — the problem of uneven growth rates when active and dummy regions are patterned differently on the same substrate. Its method covers forming a mask with openings over both active and dummy active regions and performing selective epitaxial growth on both simultaneously. Because loading-effect control is foundational to reliable selective epitaxy at scale, this filing is frequently relevant prior art for later process claims touching the same problem.
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 Epitaxial Source Drain and Selective Epitaxy 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.