Hybrid Bonding Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Hybrid bonding for wafer stacking: patents behind the shift to direct copper-dielectric interconnects
71.5% concentration. The top 5 assignees hold 435 of 608 records in scope — a field with one dominant filer and a long tail of single-digit players. Filings climbed from 7 in 2017 to a peak of 116 in 2023, with the 2021-to-2024 span alone showing +152% growth. 2025 and 2026 figures are undercounted because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months — the recent-looking dip is a reporting artefact, not a slowdown.
- 1ADEIA SEMICONDUCTOR BONDING TECHNOLOGIES INC307
- 2SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES LLC37
- 3MONOLITHIC 3D INC35
- 4INTERUNIVERSITAIR MICRO ELECTRONICS CENT (IMEC VZW)29
- 5ASML NETHERLANDS BV27
See the full hybrid bonding for wafer stacking analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions on hybrid bonding patents
Who holds the most patents in hybrid bonding for wafer stacking?
One assignee holds 307 of the 608 records in scope, far ahead of the next four combined, who together bring the top-5 total to 435 records (71.5% of all records in scope). This concentration means that portfolio is the natural starting point for any licensing or freedom-to-operate review in this space. The remaining 39 companies in the 49-company ranked list file at much lower volumes, often in single digits, suggesting a long tail of specialists rather than broad competition at the top.
Is hybrid bonding patent filing still growing?
Filings grew sharply, from 46 in 2021 to 116 in 2024, a 152% increase over that span, with 2023 marking the peak year at 116 filings. Figures for 2025 and 2026 look lower, but that reflects the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication, not an actual slowdown. Anyone using this trend to time a filing decision should treat only 2024 and earlier as a complete picture.
What technical problems do most hybrid bonding patents address?
The search terms behind this dataset — dielectric bonding surface preparation, copper recess control, copper expansion anneal, overlay accuracy and void at interface — map directly to the practical failure modes of direct copper-dielectric bonding. H01L (semiconductor devices) covers 77.5% of the 608 records, meaning the bulk of claim activity sits on the core bonding mechanics rather than downstream applications. Classes tied to memory manufacture and photolithography follow at meaningfully lower shares.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Hybrid Bonding for Wafer Stacking covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.