EUV Lithography Patent Landscape 2026
EUV Lithography Patent Landscape in 2026
EUV lithography is a mature, highly concentrated field where a handful of equipment makers, chipmakers, and materials suppliers collectively dominate filings. Annual volume peaked in 2021 and has since eased, though the multi-year corpus reflects a decade of sustained investment across optics, photoresist chemistry, and process control.
ASML and TSMC anchor a deeply concentrated top tier
The leading position belongs to ASML Netherlands BV, whose patent records place it narrowly ahead of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd in the applicant ranking. The two together account for a dominant share of activity among the top filers, reflecting the field’s dependence on a single primary tool supplier and a single leading-edge foundry.
The top five filers — ASML Netherlands BV, TSMC, Nikon, Shin-Etsu Chemical, and Carl Zeiss SMT — collectively hold 48% of the combined total of the hundred largest filers, signalling a two-tier structure: a narrow group of deep specialists followed by a longer tail of materials, process, and design-tool companies each holding meaningfully smaller shares.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ASML Netherlands BV | 4,045 | |
| 2 | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd | 4,001 | |
| 3 | Nikon Corporation | 2,442 | |
| 4 | Shin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd | 2,370 | |
| 5 | Carl Zeiss SMT GmbH | 2,178 | |
| 6 | Fujifilm Corporation | 1,299 | |
| 7 | Intel Corporation | 995 | |
| 8 | Applied Materials Inc | 947 | |
| 9 | Samsung Electronics Co Ltd | 921 | |
| 10 | Tokyo Electron Ltd | 881 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | AGC Inc | 824 | |
| 12 | Canon Inc | 766 | |
| 13 | International Business Machines Corporation | 709 | |
| 14 | ASML Holding NV | 564 | |
| 15 | Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co Ltd | 528 | |
| 16 | Lam Research Corporation | 442 | |
| 17 | KLA Corporation | 410 | |
| 18 | Nissan Chemical Corporation | 362 | |
| 19 | Sumitomo Chemical Co Ltd | 351 | |
| 20 | imec vzw | 261 |
The leaders’ positions reflect distinct roles: ASML owns the scanner platform, TSMC drives process integration, Nikon and Carl Zeiss SMT cover optics and illumination, and Shin-Etsu Chemical anchors the photoresist materials supply chain. This interdependence makes head-on displacement of any single leader difficult without engaging the full ecosystem.
Filing counts for 2024 and especially 2025–2026 are subject to publication lag and will increase as pending applications publish; apparent recent dips should not be read as evidence of declining activity. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
A field that peaked in 2021 and is now diversifying into adjacent chemistry and optics
The annual filing trend reveals a field that grew steadily from 2017 to its 2021 peak and has since moderated, while the technology composition shows that photolithography process patents remain dominant but materials and optical-element classes are growing in relative importance.
Annual filing trend
Filings climbed from 2017 through a 2021 peak and have moderated since; 2024–2026 counts are materially under-reported due to publication lag and should not be read as a true decline. The multi-year trajectory still reflects a very active decade of EUV investment.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
G03F (photolithography and photomechanics) is by far the dominant class, followed by H01L (semiconductor devices). Smaller but notable shares in G02B (optical elements), G21K (particle and radiation handling), C08F (addition polymers), and H05G (X-ray technique) indicate that optics, resist chemistry, and EUV source engineering each support substantial sub-fields.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Immersion post-exposure bake lithography process a…
A method of performing extreme ultraviolet lithography process includes applying a protic solvent over an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photoresist layer located over a substrate after exposure to EUV radiation, heating the protic solvent on the EUV photoresist layer to a post-exposure bake temperature photoresist, and removing the protic solvent from above the… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Exposure apparatus and exposure method capable of … | 1,149 |
| 2 | Method and system for drying a substrate | 989 |
| 3 | Optical element for an illumination system | 912 |
| 4 | Semiconductor memory and method for manufacturing … | 851 |
| 5 | Template for room temperature, low pressure micro-… | 735 |
| 6 | Stationary and dynamic radial transverse electric … | 730 |
| 7 | Optical element for a lighting system | 717 |
| 8 | Stationary and dynamic radial transverse electric … | 637 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
What the competitive structure means for R&D investment decisions
Four structural observations — maturity stage, concentration, collaboration patterns, and geographic filing bias — together define where new entrants face the highest barriers and where targeted investment may still find room.
Field is at a plateau: high barriers, incremental differentiation
The lifecycle stage is Maturity: annual filings plateaued near their 2021 peak and have eased since. New entrants face extensive prior art in core scanner, mask, and resist sub-fields. The practical implication is that differentiated positions must be carved out at the subsystem or materials level rather than through broad platform patents.
Lifecycle: MaturityTop five hold nearly half of the hundred largest filers’ combined total
The top five filers account for 48% of the combined patent records held by the hundred largest filers, with ASML Netherlands BV alone the single largest holder. The second tier — Fujifilm, Intel, Applied Materials, Samsung Electronics, Tokyo Electron — each hold meaningfully smaller shares, suggesting that adjacent sub-fields (metrology, cleaning, deposition) remain more competitively open than the core lithography platform.
High concentrationASML–Carl Zeiss and IBM–GlobalFoundries are the most active co-filing pairs
The most active co-applicant pair is ASML Netherlands BV and ASML Holding NV with 57 joint filings, followed closely by ASML Netherlands BV and Carl Zeiss SMT with 56, confirming that the core scanner–optics integration is protected jointly. IBM and GlobalFoundries have 29 joint filings, reflecting their historical process-development alliance. TSMC co-files with National Taiwan University (15 filings) and National Tsing Hua University (13 filings), signalling academic partnerships in advanced resist and process research.
Ecosystem co-filingUS filings dominate; EPO and PCT provide secondary international coverage
The United States is the lead filing office by a wide margin, reflecting both the headquarters of major IP holders and the importance of the US market for semiconductor tooling. Europe via EPO and WIPO PCT provide the next largest coverage layers. Singapore appears as a notable Asia-Pacific filing destination, likely tied to TSMC and ASML regional operations. South Korea, Japan, and China show comparatively sparse direct filings, which may represent either strategic filing gaps or reliance on national routes not fully captured here.
US-centric, EPO secondaryGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| ASML Netherlands BV | ASML Holding NV | 57 |
| ASML Netherlands BV | Carl Zeiss SMT GmbH | 56 |
| International Business Machines Corporation | GlobalFoundries Inc | 29 |
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd | National Taiwan University | 15 |
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd | National Tsing Hua University | 13 |
| ASML Netherlands BV | Koninklijke Philips NV | 13 |
| International Business Machines Corporation | JSR Corporation | 9 |
| International Business Machines Corporation | IBM UNITED KINGDOM LTD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DEPAR… | 9 |
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd | TSMC Nanjing Co Ltd | 7 |
| International Business Machines Corporation | IBM China Co Ltd | 7 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
ASML and TSMC lead by volume; materials specialists are accelerating
The top two filers are close in absolute scale but differ sharply in trajectory and technical focus. Among the broader top ten, materials suppliers Shin-Etsu Chemical and Carl Zeiss SMT show the strongest recent momentum.
ASML Netherlands BV
ASML Netherlands BV is the largest single filer and concentrates its portfolio heavily in G03F photolithography process and mask technology, with secondary coverage in H01L semiconductor device manufacture. Despite its dominant position, recent momentum is down 14% versus the prior three-year period, consistent with a maturing core platform and a shift toward incremental process refinements rather than new architectural filings.
patent records: 4,045Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd
TSMC ranks second and its portfolio spans G03F process patents, H01L device integration, and G03F mask technology — reflecting a foundry-level perspective covering full process flows rather than tool design. Recent momentum is up 10% versus the prior three-year period, making it the only top-two filer still growing, and its academic co-filing with National Taiwan University and National Tsing Hua University suggests continued investment in next-generation resist and patterning research.
patent records: 4,001| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd | 1,002 | ▲ +10% |
| Shin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd | 428 | ▲ +52% |
| ASML Netherlands BV | 289 | ▼ -14% |
| Nikon Corporation | 6 | ▼ -90% |
| Carl Zeiss SMT GmbH | 238 | ▲ +40% |
| Fujifilm Corporation | 146 | ▼ -10% |
| Applied Materials Inc | 136 | ▼ -50% |
| International Business Machines Corporation | 35 | ▼ -80% |
Under-served branches in optics, radiation handling, and resist chemistry
Relative to the dominant G03F core, several adjacent IPC branches carry lower filing density despite clear technical relevance to EUV system performance. These observations of relative sparsity may indicate where targeted entry could encounter less prior-art crowding.
G21K · Particle and radiation handling
This branch covers EUV source optics, beam shaping, and radiation management — functions central to scanner performance but with a share roughly one-fifteenth that of the dominant G03F class. Carl Zeiss SMT holds meaningful coverage here (249 records in G21K subclasses), but the broader field is sparse. For teams working on collector mirror lifetime, debris mitigation, or plasma source efficiency, this branch represents a less crowded entry path with direct commercial relevance to next-generation high-NA EUV tools.
Search this in Eureka →C08F · Addition polymers (vinyl etc.)
Photoresist polymer chemistry sits at the intersection of C08F and G03F, but C08F alone — covering the underlying monomer and polymer synthesis — is comparatively sparse at roughly 3% of the overall composition. Shin-Etsu Chemical and Fujifilm are active here, but the sub-field for metal-oxide and non-chemically-amplified resist chemistries tailored to high-NA EUV appears to have room for additional entrants, particularly from specialty chemical firms with polymer synthesis capabilities seeking to supply the next generation of EUV process nodes.
Search this in Eureka →How leaders differ by technology route across photolithography, optics, and device integration
Strength of each leader across the main technology routes.
| Player | G03F 7 · Photolithography & photomechanics | H01L 21 · Semiconductor devices | G03F 1 · Photolithography & photomechanics | G02B 5 · Optical elements & systems | G21K 1 · Particle & radiation handling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd | Strong · 1,777 | Strong · 1,158 | Strong · 1,007 | Emerging · 39 | Emerging · 39 |
| ASML Netherlands BV | Strong · 1,363 | Moderate · 349 | Moderate · 638 | Emerging · 133 | Emerging · 135 |
| Nikon Corporation | Strong · 1,209 | Strong · 751 | Absent | Emerging · 82 | Emerging · 84 |
| Carl Zeiss SMT GmbH | Strong · 1,108 | Absent | Emerging · 209 | Moderate · 315 | Moderate · 249 |
| Shin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd | Strong · 1,174 | Absent | Moderate · 446 | Absent | Emerging · 21 |
| Canon Inc | Strong · 525 | Strong · 488 | Absent | Emerging · 52 | Emerging · 58 |
| Fujifilm Corporation | Strong · 750 | Moderate · 256 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus covers 10,643 patent families. Filing counts for 2024 onward are subject to publication lag and will increase as pending applications are published.
ASML Netherlands BV leads the applicant ranking, followed very closely by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd. The two are separated by a small margin at the top of a deeply concentrated field.
The field reached a lifecycle stage of Maturity, with annual filings having plateaued near their 2021 peak and easing since. The multi-year corpus still reflects a decade of sustained activity, but the pace of new filings has moderated from that peak level.
G03F (photolithography and photomechanics) is by far the dominant class. H01L (semiconductor devices) is the second largest, followed by G02B (optical elements and systems), G21K (particle and radiation handling), and C08F (addition polymers covering resist chemistry).
Among the top applicants, Shin-Etsu Chemical shows the strongest recent momentum at plus 52% versus the prior three-year period, followed by Carl Zeiss SMT at plus 40% and TSMC at plus 10%. By contrast, Nikon and IBM show significant recent declines.
The United States is the lead filing office by a wide margin. Europe via the EPO and WIPO PCT provide the next largest layers of international coverage, with Singapore notable as a secondary Asia-Pacific destination.
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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.
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