This dataset identifies 186 published records between 2015 and mid-2026 that combine RF probing or high-frequency probe language with impedance matching, de-embedding, calibration substrates, crosstalk between probes, ground-signal-ground layouts, or loss compensation. That figure reflects one specific search scope, so a broader or narrower query on the same technology could return a different count. It should be read as the population this landscape is built on, not as an absolute count of every probing-related patent worldwide.

The leading assignee holds 28 of the 186 records in scope, and the top five combined account for 55.4% of all records. Filing counts drop sharply after that: by tenth place the count is down to 4 records, out of 52 companies that appear across the full ranking. That pattern points to one or two dominant filers alongside a long tail of occasional entrants rather than an evenly distributed field.

Filings peaked so far at 17 in 2018, dipped afterward, and have since climbed again — 2021's 2 filings grew to 2024's 5, a +150% increase over that three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year with a largely complete count, because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months. The 2025–2026 figures in any chart should be read as still filling in rather than as a genuine slowdown.

Electric and magnetic measurement (G01R) is the largest single class, appearing in 57.0% of the 186 records, well ahead of semiconductor devices (H01L) at 21.5% and diagnosis and surgery (A61B) at 16.1%. Waveguide and microwave hardware (H01P) and general material testing (G01N) are present but much thinner. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100% and should not be summed into a single total.

US9535093B2, assigned to MPI Corporation and published in January 2017, claims a high-frequency probe card with a substrate, an interposing plate and a circuit board stacked with aligned through-holes, carrying a probe module with at least one ground probe and one high-frequency impedance-matching probe. It matters because it ties a specific mechanical stack-up to the electrical function of impedance matching in a probe card, which narrows the room for a near-identical structural approach. Anyone designing a probe card with a similar layered through-hole geometry and matched ground/signal probe pairing should review this claim set closely before finalising a design.

Relative to the dense G01R and H01L classes, sub-areas such as crosstalk-compensated multi-probe arrays, calibration substrates suited to sub-THz de-embedding, and loss-compensation methods for flexible membrane probes show thinner filing density in this dataset. These are not guaranteed gaps — they may simply be harder problems with fewer solved approaches — but they are areas where a well-drafted first claim faces less crowded prior art than the core measurement classes.