GaN Gate & Passivation Interface Patent Snapshot 2026
The GaN gate and passivation interface patent space is small and highly concentrated, with U.S. government institutions and a handful of specialist firms holding the dominant positions. Filing activity peaked in 2018 and has since plateaued at low annual volumes, signalling a mature but narrowly held field.
A U.S.-government-led field with high concentration among a small set of filers
The U. S. Government (represented by the Department of Health and Human Services) leads the applicant ranking, followed by GaN Systems Inc. and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) of Singapore. The top five filers account for 78% of the combined patent records held by the ranked applicants visible in this query.
The tier gap between the leader and the rest of the field is substantial: the top applicant holds 7 patent records, while the second-ranked GaN Systems Inc. holds 4 and third-ranked. A*STAR holds 3. The remaining applicants each hold 1–2 records, confirming a steep drop-off after the first tier.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | U.S. Government (Dept. of Health and Human Services) | 7 | |
| 2 | GaN Systems Inc. | 4 | |
| 3 | AGENCY FOR SCI TECH & RES | 3 | |
| 4 | U.S. Naval Research Laboratory | 2 | |
| 5 | HRL Laboratories LLC | 2 | |
| 6 | South China University of Technology | 1 | |
| 7 | THE HONG KONG UNIV OF SCI & TECH | 1 | |
| 8 | University of California (Regents) | 1 | |
| 9 | Peking University | 1 | |
| 10 | SUZHOU INST OF NANO TECH & NANO BIONICS CHINESE AC… | 1 |
This concentration in government and quasi-public research entities suggests the field has been shaped primarily by publicly funded R&D programs rather than broad commercial competition, leaving relatively few commercial incumbents with deep positional depth.
The most recent filing years (2024–2026) are likely under-counted due to standard patent publication lag and should not be interpreted as a decline in activity. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
A 2018 filing peak followed by sustained low-volume activity, dominated by semiconductor device classifications
The annual filing trend and technology composition charts together reveal a field that burst with activity around 2018 and has since settled into a low but persistent baseline, concentrated almost entirely within semiconductor device IPC branches.
Annual filing trend
Filing volume peaked sharply in 2018 with 6 records, then fell and has ranged between 0 and 1 per year from 2020 onward. The 2024–2026 data points are subject to publication lag and should not be read as representing final annual totals.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H01L (Semiconductor devices) is the visible branch, reflecting the HEMT and power device focus of the corpus. H10W and H10D (general semiconductor devices) represent meaningful secondary branches, while C01G (Compounds of other metals) appears in only a single record, marking it as a sparse adjacent area.
↗ 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.
METHOD FOR IMPROVING SHORT-CIRCUIT CAPABILITY OF E…
Embodiments of the present application provides a method for improving the short-circuit capability of an enhancement-mode (E-mode) GaN HEMT and its device structure. This is achieved by depositing metal in the active region between the gate and the source, adjacent to the source region of a conventional E-mode GaN HEMT, the metal is directly connected with… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | III-Nitride High Electron Mobility Transistor Stru… | 98 |
| 2 | Gallium Nitride Power Devices Using Island Topogra… | 39 |
| 3 | Gate metallization methods for self-aligned sidewa… | 14 |
| 4 | Iii-nitride high electron mobility transistor stru… | 12 |
| 5 | Diamond Air Bridge for Thermal Management of High … | 10 |
| 6 | Gallium nitride power devices using island topogra… | 8 |
| 7 | Gallium nitride power devices using island topogra… | 7 |
| 8 | Gallium nitride power devices using island topogra… | 6 |
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.
U.S. Government (HHS)
The U.S. Government as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services holds 7 patent records, the largest position in this corpus. Its technology emphasis spans H01L 29 semiconductor devices, H10W 40, and H01L 21 — covering both device structure and fabrication process claims. No momentum trend data is available for this applicant in the evidence, consistent with the field’s plateaued filing pace.
patent records: 7GaN Systems Inc.
GaN Systems Inc. holds 4 patent records and is the leading commercial applicant in the ranking. Its technology focus spans H01L 27, H01L 29, and H10D 30 — reflecting a device integration and power-switching orientation consistent with its commercial GaN power transistor products. The company’s portfolio was built through a tight-knit inventor team, as evidenced by the collaboration data. No momentum trend data is available in the evidence.
patent records: 4Frequently asked questions
The evidence covers 12 patent families in scope for this topic.
The U.S. Government as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services is the top-ranked applicant with 7 patent records, followed by GaN Systems Inc. with 4 and A*STAR with 3.
The evidence places the field at the Maturity stage. Annual filings have plateaued near their 2018 peak and have not returned to that level in subsequent years.
The United States leads with 13 patent records, followed by WIPO PCT with 4, and China and Europe (EPO) each with 2. Japan and Singapore each have 1 record.
H01L (Semiconductor devices) is visible with 23 records, followed by H10W with 10 and H10D (general semiconductor devices) with 6. C01G (Compounds of other metals) is the only sparse adjacent branch, appearing in just 1 record.
The collaboration evidence shows four individual inventors — Greg Klowak, Ahmad Mizan, Girvan Patterson, and John Roberts — each co-filing with GaN Systems Inc. No inter-institutional co-filing pairs between separate organizations are identified in the current evidence.
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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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