Fused Silica & Quartz Glass Patents: Who Leads, Trends 2026
- Filing has cooled since its 2021 peak. 39 families filed that year against 34 in 2017 and just 7 at the 2022 midpoint — this is a mature, not a growing, filing field.
- Glass composition claims outnumber optics claims by more than 2 to 1. 1,237 records sit in C03C glass and enamel compositions versus 528 in G02B optical elements, showing where the claim density actually concentrates.
- The strongest assignee pairing files almost exclusively together. Heraeus Quarzglas and Shin-Etsu Quartz co-appear on 148 records, a far tighter bond than any other pairing in the dataset.
Filing growth compares 2021 (39 records) with 2024 (15) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 1,933 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Fused silica and quartz glass production spans flame hydrolysis, sol-gel and melting routes, with downstream claims tuned to OH content, bubble inclusion control, UV transmission and annealing schedules. This landscape draws on 1,933 patent families published between 2017 and the 2026 data cut-off, indexed under glass manufacture, glass compositions, optics and semiconductor IPC codes. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent filing years understate real activity.
The technology sits at the intersection of bulk materials science and precision optics: the same core process choices — how silica is decomposed, doped and annealed — feed both commodity glass and the ultra-pure substrates used in lithography and telecom optics.
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same corpus: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how records distribute across the IPC subclasses that define the technology's boundaries.
A peak in 2021, then a fall
Filings ran at 34 in 2017, climbed to a peak of 39 in 2021, then dropped sharply to 7 by the 2022 midpoint. Read alongside the 18-month publication lag, this points to a field where core process claims were staked out earlier in the decade and filing has since slowed rather than accelerated.
Glass compositions dominate over optics
C03B (glass manufacture and shaping) covers 1,763 records and C03C (glass and enamel compositions) covers 1,237, together dwarfing G02B optical elements (528), G03F photolithography (284) and H01L semiconductor devices (204). C01B, C30B and C04B trail well behind, marking crystal growth and refractory ceramics as much smaller, adjacent claim territories.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,933 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Fused Silica and Quartz Glass Production with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about fused silica and quartz glass production and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe foundational and representative filings
Synthetic quartz glass for nanoimprint molds via flame hydrolysis (EP2684851B1)
Filed by Shin-Etsu Chemical, this record describes synthetic quartz glass produced by flame hydrolysis and tuned for use in nanoimprint mold applications, tying process-level control of the flame hydrolysis route to a specific downstream optical use.Original filing text is in German; claims and description translate the flame hydrolysis process and its nanoimprint mold application.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5043002A | Method of making fused silica by decomposing siloxanes | 285 |
| 2 | US5474589A | UV light-permeable glass and article comprising the same | 279 |
| 3 | US5152819A | Method of making fused silica | 143 |
| 4 | US20020157421A1 | Method for producing titania-doped fused silica glass | 142 |
| 5 | US3806570A | Method for producing high quality fused silica | 115 |
| 6 | US20040162211A1 | Fused silica having high internal transmission and low birefringence | 109 |
| 7 | JP2005104820A | SILICA GLASS CONTAINING TiO2 AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCTION THEREOF | 107 |
| 8 | US5326729A | Transparent quartz glass and process for its production | 101 |
| 9 | US5364433A | Optical member of synthetic quartz glass for excimer lasers and method for producing same | 99 |
| 10 | US5970751A | Fused SiO2-TiO2 glass method | 95 |
Citation counts favour older filings within a searched corpus — treat them as a measure of influence on later work, not of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Put your own technology through the same analysis
Eureka on the web
When you want the answer in the next five minutes.
The agent works the prompt against patents and technical literature, citing every source.
Run your analysis now →MCP server & REST API
When it has to run inside your own pipeline.
Patent search, landscape analysis and assignee resolution as MCP tools. Drop them into any agent framework, or call REST directly.
Browse MCP servers →What the numbers say about this field
Reading the filing trend, IPC spread and citation table together points to a field where core production chemistry was claimed early and the remaining activity is concentrated in downstream applications.
Growth has flattened, not accelerated
The trend line rises gently from 34 filings in 2017 to a peak of 39 in 2021, then falls sharply. Combined with the publication lag, this is consistent with a technology whose core process claims were staked out mid-decade rather than one still in active build-out.
Bulk glass manufacture, not optics, holds the density
C03B (glass manufacture and shaping) and C03C (glass and enamel compositions) together account for the great majority of records, well ahead of G02B optical elements. Filers targeting downstream optical applications are working on top of a densely claimed manufacturing base.
Early siloxane-decomposition patents still anchor the field
The most-cited record in this corpus, on making fused silica by decomposing siloxanes, carries 285 citations, well ahead of the next entries. New filings in this space are almost certainly required to distinguish themselves from this and a small cluster of similarly foundational 1990s-era patents.
Filing is concentrated across three offices
The United States, Japan and the European Patent Office each receive well over 400 records, with WIPO PCT, China and Germany trailing behind. Any freedom-to-operate check needs to cover all three lead jurisdictions rather than treating one as dominant.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to fused silica and quartz glass production, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the ground, and where it is open
A small group of Japanese and German specialists account for the tightest filing relationships in this dataset, but momentum has cooled across the board in the most recent year — a sign that the field's active players are consolidating existing positions rather than expanding them.
Heraeus Quarzglas and Shin-Etsu Quartz file almost as one
Their 148 shared records make this by far the strongest co-assignee relationship in the dataset, well ahead of the next pairing (Shin-Etsu Quartz and Shin-Etsu Chemical at 21). This suggests a long-running joint development or cross-licensing arrangement rather than incidental overlap.
Every major assignee shows zero filings in the most recent year
Heraeus Quarzglas, Corning, Shin-Etsu Quartz, Shin-Etsu Chemical, Asahi Glass and Sumitomo Electric all show zero filings in the latest tracked year, with Heraeus Quarzglas and Shin-Etsu Chemical both down 100% year-on-year. Given the publication lag, this likely reflects filings still in the pipeline rather than an actual halt in R&D.
Cross-entity filing is limited but concentrated
Only ten co-assignee pairs appear across the corpus, and the strength drops off quickly after the top pairing. Most records are filed by a single assignee, meaning the joint-development pattern seen at the top is the exception rather than the norm.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Heraeus Quarzglas GmbH & Co. KG | 0 | -100% |
| Corning Incorporated | 0 | — |
| Shin-Etsu Quartz Products Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| Asahi Glass Co., Ltd. (AGC) | 0 | — |
| Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Nikon Corporation | 0 | — |
| Heraeus Tenevo GmbH | 0 | — |
Where to take this
The dataset points to a field with settled core claims and a handful of thinner branches. The next steps depend on whether you are clearing freedom to operate or looking for open claim space.
Map claims against the top-cited prior art
Before drafting new claims in flame hydrolysis or siloxane decomposition routes, check them against the small cluster of highly-cited 1990s and early-2000s patents that anchor this field.
Explore prior art in Eureka →Watch the Heraeus–Shin-Etsu filing relationship
Their 148-record co-assignee link is unusually strong; tracking new joint filings from this pairing is a reasonable proxy for where the core technology is still moving.
Track assignee activity in Eureka →Test the under-claimed branches
Low-OH-content deep-UV doping and refractory-grade fused silica both sit at lower filing density than the core glass-manufacture claims — worth a closer novelty check before assuming the space is crowded.
Run a white space search in Eureka →Common questions on fused silica and quartz glass patents
The dataset shows Heraeus Quarzglas and Shin-Etsu Quartz as the two most tightly linked filers, co-appearing on 148 shared records, far more than any other pairing. Corning, Shin-Etsu Chemical, Asahi Glass and Sumitomo Electric also appear among the more active assignees. All of the major assignees tracked here show zero filings in the most recent year, which given the roughly 18-month publication lag likely reflects pending applications rather than an actual pullback.
Filing volume peaked at 39 families in 2021, up from 34 in 2017, then fell sharply to 7 by the 2022 midpoint. That pattern, combined with the publication lag understating the most recent years, suggests a field where core process claims were staked out mid-decade and overall filing momentum has since flattened rather than continuing to grow. It remains an active field for downstream application claims even where core manufacturing claims are dense.
The core classifications are C03B for glass manufacture and shaping, covering 1,763 records in this corpus, and C03C for glass and enamel compositions, covering 1,237. Downstream applications pull in G02B optical elements, G03F photolithography and H01L semiconductor devices, while C01B, C30B and C04B capture smaller adjacent areas in inorganic compounds, crystal growth and ceramics respectively. A freedom-to-operate search in this space needs to span all of these subclasses, not just the two largest.
EP2684851B1, filed by Shin-Etsu Chemical, covers synthetic quartz glass produced via flame hydrolysis and tuned specifically for nanoimprint mold applications. Its claims tie process-level control of the flame hydrolysis route to that particular downstream optical use rather than to flame hydrolysis in general. Anyone producing quartz glass by flame hydrolysis for a different end use should check the claim scope carefully rather than assuming it blocks the broader process.
Relative to the dense claim coverage in core glass manufacture and composition, several adjacent branches show thinner filing: low-OH-content doping tuned for deep-UV optical transmission, refractory-grade fused silica under the C04B ceramics classification, and quartz processing steps adjacent to crystal growth under C30B. These are not unclaimed, but filing density there is noticeably lower than in the core C03B and C03C territory, making them worth a targeted novelty check before assuming the space is occupied.
Research Fused Silica and Quartz Glass Production in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole fused silica and quartz glass production corpus yourself, in your own scope.
Every answer comes back with patent numbers you can open.
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.