Focused Ion Beam Prep Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
Focused Ion Beam Sample Preparation Patents: Who Leads and Where the Claim Space Is Still Open
59.2% of all 360 records sit with the top five assignees combined, so most of the working claim space in FIB sample prep is already staked out by a small group. Filings rose from 3 in 2017 to a peak of 30 in 2022, then settled to a modest +5% climb from 22 in 2021 to 23 in 2024 — the last year that can be read as complete. Treat 2025 and 2026 figures as still filling in rather than as a slowdown.
- 1FEI CO120
- 2CARL ZEISS SMT GMBH42
- 3HENNYZ BV19
- 4HITACHI GLOBAL STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES INC19
- 5E A FISCHIONE INSTR13
See the full focused ion beam sample preparation 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 FIB sample preparation patents
Who holds the most patents in focused ion beam sample preparation?
One assignee leads the ranked field with 120 of the 360 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 13. The top five assignees combined account for 59.2% of all 360 records, meaning a majority of the documented claim space sits with a small group of instrument makers. Beyond that, the ranking runs to 79 companies, with a long tail holding only a handful of families each — so there is room to file, but not in the areas the leaders have already covered densely.
Is the focused ion beam sample preparation patent field still growing?
Growth has been modest rather than steep. Filings rose from 3 in 2017 to a peak of 30 in 2022, then the 2021-to-2024 span — the most recent period reliable enough to read as complete — shows just a +5% increase, from 22 to 23. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete and should not be read as a decline; they simply haven’t caught up yet.
What technology areas dominate FIB sample preparation claims?
H01J, covering electron and discharge tubes, appears in 51.4% of the 360 records, making it the single largest IPC subclass in the corpus. G01N (material analysis and testing) follows at 25.0% and H01L (semiconductor devices) at 23.9%. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100% — they describe overlapping claim territory, not a strict partition of the field.
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 Focused Ion Beam Sample Preparation 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.