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.

The composition data shows H01L (semiconductor devices) on 45.5% of the 33 records and H04N (pictorial communication) on 33.3%, ahead of G02B (optical elements and systems) and H10P, each at 24.2%. Because coating claims in this field are frequently drafted alongside device and imaging-module claims rather than as standalone optics filings, a search limited to G02B alone would miss a majority of the relevant art. A thorough freedom-to-operate search should span all four classes, plus the smaller G06F, G06T, H04M and H04R classes that each appear on 9.1% of records.

The composition and co-assignee data point to under-claimed branches including angular blue-shift correction coatings, moth-eye structure durability under environmental cycling, sputtering process control aimed specifically at particle defect reduction, and coating adhesion for multi-layer infrared-cut filter stacks. These areas show filing activity in the dataset but no single dominant claimant, unlike the core structural antireflection claims held by the top assignees. That combination — present but not concentrated — is the signal worth following up with a targeted claim search before committing to a specific process route.