GAA Device Reliability (BTI/HCI) Patent Snapshot 2026
The patent corpus for gate-all-around device reliability — covering bias-temperature instability and hot-carrier injection — is highly concentrated, with TSMC holding more than half of the 28 patent families in scope and the top five filers collectively dominating among the largest filers. The field is in a Growth stage on a multi-year basis, though annual volume peaked in 2023 and remains understated in the most recent years due to publication lag.
TSMC leads a tightly held, early-stage reliability corpus
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company holds 15 patent families, making it the clear leader in GAA BTI/HCI reliability IP. International Business Machines Corporation follows with 6 patent families, and Qualcomm ranks third with 4 patent families — together these three players account for the bulk of meaningful activity.
The top five filers hold 97% of the combined output of the ranked applicants visible in this query, an extraordinary concentration level. The gap between TSMC and the second-ranked IBM is substantial, and the remaining applicants — Intel, IBM Deutschland, and GlobalFoundries US — each hold only 1–2 patent families, confirming a pronounced two-tier structure.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company | 15 | |
| 2 | International Business Machines Corporation | 6 | |
| 3 | Qualcomm Incorporated | 4 | |
| 4 | Intel Corporation | 2 | |
| 5 | IBM Deutschland GmbH | 1 | |
| 6 | GlobalFoundries US Inc. | 1 |
TSMC’s position reflects its role as the primary commercial manufacturer advancing nanosheet and gate-all-around process nodes; IBM’s presence aligns with its long-standing research focus on advanced transistor architectures including nanosheet and CFET structures. Qualcomm’s ranking indicates that fabless design houses are also beginning to protect reliability-related circuit and process knowledge.
The most recent one to two years of filings will appear understated due to the typical 18–24 month gap between filing and publication; the apparent quieting in 2024–2025 should not be read as a real slowdown. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
A 2023 surge anchors multi-year growth; H01L dominates the technology mix
The filing trend and technology composition together show a corpus that is young, technically narrow, and dominated by foundational semiconductor device classification, with a sharp 2023 activity spike driving the three-year growth figure.
Annual filing trend
No families were filed before 2019. Activity began at 5 patent families in 2019, settled near 2 per year through 2020–2022, then surged to 14 patent families in 2023 — the clear peak year. The 2024 tally of 3 and the zero readings for 2025–2026 reflect publication lag rather than a real halt. The three-year recent window sits 111% above the prior three-year window, confirming genuine multi-year expansion even as annual volume has eased from its 2023 peak.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H01L (Semiconductor devices) covers all 28 patent families in this corpus and is the visible classification, reflecting the device-physics and process-integration nature of BTI/HCI work. H10D (Semiconductor devices, general) appears in 13 records. H10P, B82Y (Nanotechnology applications), and H10B (Memory device manufacture) each appear in 3 or fewer records, marking them as adjacent, under-represented branches relative to the core device classes.
↗ 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.
Vertical gate-all-around (GAA) memory cell and met…
Various embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to a vertical gate-all-around (GAA) memory cell. A middle conductor overlies a lower conductor and decreases in width towards the lower conductor to culminate in a point spaced from the lower conductor. An insulator structure is between the lower conductor and the middle conductor. A semiconductor… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nanosheet transistor having abrupt junctions betwe… | 35 |
| 2 | Semiconductor Structure Having Both Gate-All-Aroun… | 35 |
| 3 | Semiconductor Structure Having Both Gate-All-Aroun… | 5 |
| 4 | Semiconductor structure having both gate-all-aroun… | 5 |
| 5 | Complementary field effect transistor (CFET) with … | 4 |
| 6 | Complementary field effect transistor (CFET) with … | 3 |
| 7 | Gate-all-around field-effect transistor device | 3 |
| 8 | Nanosheet transistor having abrupt junctions betwe… | 3 |
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.
Assignee snapshot from the current evidence set
The applicants below are visible in this query result. Because the evidence set is relatively small, read this section as a directional snapshot rather than a full competitive ranking.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company
TSMC holds 15 patent families and is classified as a new entrant in momentum terms — reflecting that this specific reliability niche formed recently. Its technology emphasis spans H01L 29 (device structures), H01L 21 (fabrication processes), and H01L 27 (integrated circuits), indicating broad coverage of the full process-to-circuit reliability chain. This breadth makes its portfolio the most defensible in the corpus.
patent families: 15International Business Machines Corporation
IBM holds 6 patent families and also enters as a new entrant in this period, with a focus on H01L 29 device structures and a notable reach into B82Y 10 nanotechnology applications — consistent with its published research on nanosheet and CFET transistor reliability. IBM Deutschland filed one family jointly with the parent entity, representing the only documented collaborative filing in this corpus.
patent families: 6Frequently asked questions
There are 28 patent families in scope for this topic. The corpus is small relative to broader GAA transistor IP, reflecting that BTI- and HCI-specific reliability work in gate-all-around architectures is an emerging and specialized sub-field.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is the leading filer with 15 patent families, more than double the next-ranked applicant. International Business Machines Corporation holds 6 patent families and Qualcomm holds 4, with Intel, IBM Deutschland, and GlobalFoundries US each holding 1–2 patent families.
The field is classified as Growth. The most recent three-year filing window is 111% above the prior three-year window on a multi-year basis. Annual volume peaked at 14 patent families in 2023 and has eased since, though the most recent years are further understated by publication lag.
The United States is the visible jurisdiction with 23 patent records. Europe (EPO) and WIPO (PCT) each account for 2 records, and the Philippines accounts for 1. This US-centric pattern indicates that international protection strategies remain underdeveloped in this niche.
H01L (Semiconductor devices) covers all 28 patent families and is the visible classification. H10D (Semiconductor devices, general) appears in 13 records. H10P, B82Y (Nanotechnology applications), and H10B (Memory device manufacture) are each represented in 3 or fewer records.
Only one co-filing relationship is documented: International Business Machines Corporation and IBM Deutschland filed one patent family jointly. No cross-company collaboration between independent entities appears in the evidence. The field is currently characterized by parallel, independent filings rather than consortium or alliance-driven activity.
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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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