Interconnect Scaling Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Interconnect Scaling and Alternative Metals: Patents Mapping the Race Beyond Copper
A narrow, concentrated field. Just 31 published records sit inside this search, with one assignee (Intel) holding the leader position at 11 records — well ahead of a long tail of single- and low-filing entrants. The field peaked at 5 records in 2017, cooled, then picked up again: 2021's single record grew to 2 by 2024, a +100% rise over that three-year span. 2025 and 2026 figures will fill in as publication catches up.
- 1INTEL CORP11
- 2INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE CORPORATION10
- 3KATHOLIEKE UNIV LEUVEN5
- 4INTERUNIVERSITAIR MICRO ELECTRONICS CENT (IMEC VZW)5
- 5THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AS REPRESENTED BY THE DEPT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS2
See the full interconnect scaling and alternative metals 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 interconnect scaling patents
What is driving interconnect scaling patents toward alternative metals like ruthenium?
As copper interconnect lines shrink below a few nanometres in width, grain boundary scattering and liner/barrier thickness eat into the conductive cross-section, causing line resistance to rise faster than geometric scaling alone would predict. Ruthenium and other alternative metals are being patented because they can support thinner or barrierless integration schemes that keep resistance and electromigration within workable limits. This dataset’s search terms were built specifically around that resistance-and-electromigration constraint, which is why it returns a small, technically focused set of 31 records rather than the much larger universe of general BEOL copper filings.
Who holds the most patents in interconnect scaling and alternative metals?
Within the 11-company ranking returned by this search, Intel holds the leader position with 11 records, ahead of a group of assignees that includes IBM, GlobalFoundries, TSMC, Qualcomm and the KU Leuven/imec research consortium. The gap between the leader and the rest is substantial, though the ranking should be read as this search’s specific 11-company list, not a top-50 or top-100 industry ranking. Recent-year momentum data suggests IBM is currently the most active of the group, though publication lag makes any single recent year understated for everyone.
What does the 2021-2024 filing growth actually tell us?
Filings in this dataset rose from 1 record in 2021 to 2 in 2024, a +100% increase, following an earlier peak of 5 records in 2017. That is a genuine upward move but from a very small base, so it should be read as renewed interest rather than a surge. 2025 and 2026 figures will continue to fill in as publication catches up with filing dates, given the roughly 18-month lag between the two; treating those years as a decline would be a misreading of the data rather than a real trend.
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 Interconnect Scaling and Alternative Metals 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.