This dataset shows a top-5 group holding 24 of the 33 records in scope, or 72.7% of the field, with the single leader at 7 records and a drop to 3 records by fifth place. The full ranking covers 18 companies and accounts for all 33 records, so there is no larger unranked population behind the visible leaders. That shape — one clear leader, a compact second tier, then a long tail of single-filing entrants down to 1 record by tenth place — is typical of a technology area where the core structural approaches are already staked out but plenty of process variants remain open.

Filing peaked at 7 records in 2019 and has not returned to that level in the years since, based on the trend data covering 2017 through 2026. A reliable growth rate cannot be stated from this trend because fewer than four complete years remain once the roughly 18-month publication lag is accounted for, so recent years understate true filing activity. Anyone benchmarking momentum should treat the last one to two years of any chart in this space as a floor rather than a ceiling.

US20160154309A1, filed by Ushio Denki Kabushiki Kaisha, describes a two-beam laser interference lithography method for exposing a resist layer to create a fine periodic pattern on a substrate, the kind of sub-wavelength structure used in moth-eye antireflection surfaces. Its claims are process claims tied to generating two crossed interference beams at defined angles and sequential exposure steps, not a claim over antireflection coatings generally. A design using a different patterning method, such as nanoimprint lithography or self-assembled particle masking, sits outside the specific interference-exposure steps this record claims.