Ion implantation beamline patents: who controls dose uniformity and wafer-charging claims
Concentrated at the top. the five leading assignees together hold 44.4% of all 2,915 records in scope, and the ranked leaders extend to 100 companies with a long tail below tenth place. Annual filings climbed from 55 in 2017 to a peak of 86 in 2018, then settled into a lower band; the 2021-to-2024 window shows 36 down to 33 records, an 8% decline that reflects a maturing claim space rather than a collapsing one.
- 1VARIAN SEMICON EQUIP ASSC INC17.9%
- 2AXCELIS TECHNOLOGIES INC9.6%
- 3APPLIED MATERIALS INC8.5%
- 4TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO LTD4.9%
- 5SEMEQUIP INC3.5%
See the full ion implantation beamline technology 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 about this landscape
Who holds the most patents in ion implantation beamline technology?
One assignee leads with 521 records, well ahead of the fifth-place company at 102. The top five assignees combined hold 44.4% of all 2,915 records in scope, and the top ten reach 52.5%. Below that, the ranking extends to 100 companies, so while the field has a clear leader it is not a two- or three-way race; a long tail of smaller filers and single-patent entrants makes up close to half of all activity.
Is ion implantation beamline patent filing still growing?
Filings peaked at 86 in 2018 and have since eased, with the 2021-to-2024 window showing a decline from 36 to 33 records, roughly 8% over three years. That is a plateau rather than a collapse, and because publication lags filing by about 18 months, the most recent one or two years in any trend chart will always look lower than they eventually turn out to be. Treat 2024 as the last complete year for trend purposes.
What technology areas do these patents actually cover?
The scope combines beamline hardware problems such as beam angle control, dose uniformity and wafer charging with process issues like channeling effect, energy contamination and photoresist outgassing. In IPC terms, H01L (semiconductor devices) touches 60.2% of the 2,915 records and H01J (electron and discharge tubes, which covers implanter hardware) touches 49.7%, with a sharper drop-off into classes like H10P, C23C and H05H. That split shows most recent claim activity sits at the device-integration end rather than being purely about the implanter itself.
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 Ion Implantation Beamline Technology 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.