GAA ALD/CVD Deposition Patent Landscape 2026
The GAA ALD/CVD deposition patent space is highly concentrated, with TSMC, IBM, and Intel together accounting for the bulk of a 512-family corpus dominated by US filings. The field expanded sharply through 2019, has eased from that peak on an annual basis, and is now largely partitioned among a small group of integrated device manufacturers and one major equipment supplier.
TSMC leads a tightly held field; top-five players command 83% of the hundred largest filers
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd holds the top position with 195 patent families, ahead of International Business Machines Corporation at 108 and Intel Corp at 92, establishing a clear three-player front tier separated by a wide gap from the rest of the ranking.
The top five filers — TSMC, IBM, Intel, Applied Materials, and Parabellum Strategic Opportunities Fund — account for 83% of the combined total across the hundred largest filers, indicating an unusually concentrated competitive structure for a foundational process technology.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd | 195 | |
| 2 | International Business Machines Corporation | 108 | |
| 3 | Intel Corp | 92 | |
| 4 | Applied Materials Inc | 58 | |
| 5 | Parabellum Strategic Opportunities Fund LLC | 8 | |
| 6 | Adeia Semiconductor Solutions LLC | 7 | |
| 7 | Tokyo Electron Ltd | 7 | |
| 8 | Synopsys Inc | 6 | |
| 9 | ASM IP Holding BV | 6 | |
| 10 | MediaTek Inc | 5 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Nan Ya Technology Corporation | 4 | |
| 12 | GlobalFoundries US Inc | 4 | |
| 13 | KOREA ADVANCED INST OF SCI & TECH | 4 | |
| 14 | National Taiwan University | 4 | |
| 15 | imec vzw | 4 | |
| 16 | Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA) | 4 | |
| 17 | Qualcomm Inc | 3 | |
| 18 | Zing Semiconductor Corporation | 3 | |
| 19 | Samsung Electronics Co Ltd | 3 | |
| 20 | Tessera LLC | 2 |
TSMC’s near-2× lead over IBM and its roughly 2× lead over Intel suggests it has used ALD/CVD deposition IP as a strategic moat rather than a licensing vehicle; IBM and Intel maintain meaningful portfolios that keep them credible in process licensing and standards-setting, while Applied Materials is the sole major equipment-side filer in the top four.
Data for the most recent 18–24 months should be treated as incomplete due to patent publication lag; the apparent step-down in 2024–2025 filings does not necessarily reflect a real slowdown in inventive activity. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
A 2019 surge now past its peak; semiconductor device classification dominates the technology mix
The annual filing trend and the IPC technology composition together reveal a field that mobilized quickly around 2019 and has since consolidated into a narrow set of classification branches, with adjacent areas receiving comparatively little attention.
Annual filing trend
Filings rose sharply to a peak in 2019 (the highest single-year total in the dataset), then moderated through 2020–2022 before easing further. Years 2024 and 2025 appear lower still, but those figures are likely under-counted due to publication lag and should not be read as confirming a sustained decline.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H01L (Semiconductor devices) and H10D (Semiconductor devices — general) together account for the overwhelming share of classified records, reflecting the device-centric framing of most filings. B82Y (Nanotechnology applications), H10B (Memory device manufacture), H10P, and C23C (Coating and surface deposition) each represent small single-digit shares, signalling that process-chemistry and memory-specific angles remain comparatively sparse.
↗ 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.
Methods of fabricating semiconductor devices havin…
A method of fabricating semiconductor devices is provided. The method includes forming a fin structure including a stack of alternating first and second semiconductor layers on a substrate, removing the first semiconductor layers to form spaces between the second semiconductor layers, and depositing a gate dielectric layer to surround the second… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Semiconductor device and method | 355 |
| 2 | Process for forming multiple active lines and gate… | 201 |
| 3 | Method for fabricating nanowires for horizontal ga… | 151 |
| 4 | Vertical gate-all-around field effect transistors … | 139 |
| 5 | Gate-all-around field-effect transistor devices ha… | 133 |
| 6 | Threshold voltage adjustment for a gate-all-around… | 131 |
| 7 | Formation of self-limited inner spacer for gate-al… | 114 |
| 8 | Fabrication of perfectly symmetric gate-all-around… | 105 |
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 portfolio structure means for process R&D investment
The combination of high concentration, a post-peak lifecycle, and a US-centric filing profile shapes where meaningful white space still exists and where freedom-to-operate risk is highest.
Post-peak consolidation, not early-stage growth
The lifecycle evidence marks this field as in decline, with annual filings easing back from the 2019 peak. On a multi-year basis the corpus reflects an accumulated body of work from an intense mid-cycle burst, and the dominant structural choices for GAA ALD/CVD integration are now largely covered by existing families. New entrants face a dense prior-art landscape in the core H01L device space.
Lifecycle: Decline83% share among the top five creates high freedom-to-operate risk
With 83% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total held by five players — TSMC, IBM, Intel, Applied Materials, and Parabellum Strategic Opportunities Fund — any new entrant or mid-tier fab seeking to develop GAA ALD/CVD process IP faces substantial cross-licensing or design-around requirements. The presence of Parabellum and Adeia Semiconductor Solutions in the ranking (both non-practising entities) adds licensing-assertion exposure to the risk profile.
High concentrationTSMC–National Taiwan University is the sole recorded co-filing relationship
The only documented co-applicant pair in the dataset is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd and National Taiwan University, with 4 co-filed patent families. This sparse collaboration record suggests that the dominant players are conducting deposition IP development largely in-house, and that university–industry joint filings in this space are not yet a significant channel for technology transfer.
Limited co-filingUS office captures nearly all filings; Asia and Europe are thin
The United States accounts for the large majority of records in this corpus, with Taiwan, WIPO PCT, China, Europe (EPO), and India each representing a small fraction. The thin PCT and EPO coverage means that non-US freedom-to-operate positions may be more available, but it also reflects where the core manufacturing decisions and litigation risk are concentrated. Filers seeking global coverage in GAA process IP have relatively clear entry points outside the US.
US-dominant filingGo 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd | National Taiwan University | 4 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
TSMC anchors the field; Applied Materials is the only equipment player gaining momentum
The top four players span integrated device manufacturers and one process equipment supplier, but their momentum profiles diverge sharply, with IBM losing ground while Applied Materials advances.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd
TSMC holds 195 patent families — nearly twice IBM’s total — concentrated in H01L 21 (semiconductor device processing), H01L 29 (semiconductor device structures), and H10D 30 (general semiconductor devices). Recent filing momentum shows a 23% decline versus the prior period, consistent with the field’s post-peak consolidation rather than a strategic retreat.
195 patent familiesApplied Materials Inc
Applied Materials holds 58 patent families and is the only top-four player posting positive recent momentum at +17% versus the prior period. Its focus sits in H01L 21 and H01L 29, with H10D 30 coverage — a profile similar to the IDMs but approaching from the equipment and process-chemistry angle. This rising trajectory makes Applied Materials the most active challenger in the near term.
58 patent families| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd | 75 | ▼ -23% |
| International Business Machines Corporation | 9 | ▼ -86% |
| Intel Corp | 40 | ▬ -2% |
| Applied Materials Inc | 21 | ▲ +17% |
| Tokyo Electron Ltd | 1 | ▲ new entrant |
| ASM IP Holding BV | 6 | ▲ new entrant |
Under-served branches adjacent to the dominant device classification
Several IPC branches adjacent to the core H01L/H10D cluster carry small filing counts relative to their technical relevance to GAA ALD/CVD integration, making them worth monitoring for white-space entry.
C23C · Coating and surface deposition
C23C carries only 19 records against a 512-family corpus — a 2% share — despite covering the coating and surface-deposition chemistry that underpins ALD and CVD processes directly. The sparse coverage likely reflects how filers frame their claims (device-centric rather than process-chemistry-centric), but it also leaves the process-chemistry angle comparatively open. Equipment makers and specialty chemical suppliers with ALD precursor or CVD reactant IP could find a less congested entry path here, provided claims are drafted around deposition chemistry rather than device structure.
Search this in Eureka →H10B · Memory device manufacture
H10B holds 24 records at a 2% share, indicating that the application of GAA ALD/CVD techniques to memory device integration remains largely unexplored in the patent literature relative to logic device coverage. As GAA architectures migrate from logic into embedded and standalone memory contexts — driven by DRAM and 3D NAND scaling — this branch represents an adjacent area where early foundational filings could establish a meaningful position ahead of the wave.
Search this in Eureka →How leaders differ by technology route across IPC branches
Route coverage across the main technology branches in the current evidence set.
| Player | H01L 21 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 29 · Semiconductor devices | H10D 62 · Semiconductor devices (general) | H10D 64 · Semiconductor devices (general) | H10D 30 · Semiconductor devices (general) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd | Strong · 203 | Strong · 174 | Strong · 102 | Strong · 103 | Strong · 105 |
| International Business Machines Corporation | Strong · 112 | Strong · 110 | Moderate · 53 | Moderate · 44 | Moderate · 37 |
| Intel Corp | Strong · 93 | Strong · 83 | Strong · 59 | Strong · 56 | Moderate · 44 |
| Applied Materials Inc | Strong · 53 | Strong · 31 | Moderate · 18 | Moderate · 12 | Moderate · 24 |
| GlobalFoundries Inc | Strong · 6 | Strong · 6 | Strong · 6 | Strong · 4 | Strong · 4 |
| Tokyo Electron Ltd | Strong · 7 | Strong · 7 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Synopsys Inc | Strong · 6 | Strong · 6 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus contains 512 patent families in scope. The United States is by far the leading filing office, accounting for 505 records within that set.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd is the largest filer with 195 patent families, ahead of International Business Machines Corporation at 108 and Intel Corp at 92.
The lifecycle evidence marks the field as post-peak. Annual filings peaked in 2019 and have eased since. Note that data for 2024 and 2025 is likely under-counted due to publication lag, so those years should not be interpreted as confirming a continued sharp decline.
It is highly concentrated. The top five filers account for 83% of the combined total across the hundred largest filers. The presence of non-practising entities Parabellum Strategic Opportunities Fund and Adeia Semiconductor Solutions in the top ten adds licensing-assertion risk.
Applied Materials Inc is the leading equipment-side filer with 58 patent families, and it is the only top-four player showing positive recent momentum at +17% versus the prior period. Tokyo Electron Ltd and ASM IP Holding BV are noted as new entrants in the recent window, though both hold small portfolios of 7 and 6 patent families respectively.
C23C (Coating and surface deposition) and H10B (Memory device manufacture) each hold only 2% of the classified records in this corpus, despite their direct technical relevance to ALD/CVD process chemistry and to GAA memory integration respectively. C30B (Crystal growth) is even sparser at 1%. These are observations of relative filing sparsity, not confirmed commercial opportunities.
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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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