Low-Temp 3D Integration Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Low-Temperature Processing for 3D Integration Patents: Mapping the Field
Top 5 filers hold 49.1% of the field. 52 of the 106 records in scope sit with just five assignees, while a long tail of single- and low-filing entrants fills out the rest of the 37-company ranking. Filings rose from 2 in 2017 to a peak of 4 in 2025; 2026 is a partial year and the true count for the last two years is likely higher once late publications land. With fewer than four complete years since the lag window closes, no growth rate can be stated reliably.
- 1INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE CORPORATION17
- 2MICRON TECHNOLOGY INC16
- 3COUNCIL OF SCI & IND RES7
- 4ATMEL CORP6
- 5GLOBALFOUNDRIES INC6
See the full low-temperature processing for 3d integration 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
Frequently asked questions
Who are the leading patent holders in low-temperature 3D integration processing?
The ranking covers 37 companies, with the top assignee holding 17 of the 106 records in scope and the top 5 combined holding 49.1% of all records. Below the top 10 (which together hold 68.9%), filing counts drop quickly into a long tail of companies with only one or two records each. This means the field has a small settled core of repeat filers and a much larger group of occasional entrants, which is typical for a specialised process technology rather than a broad platform technology.
What does ‘thermal budget’ mean in a patent claim context?
Thermal budget refers to the total heat exposure — combined temperature and time — a wafer can tolerate during a process step before it damages previously formed structures, dopant profiles, or interconnects. In sequential 3D integration, staying within a low thermal budget while forming an upper-tier device on top of a finished lower tier is the central engineering problem this dataset’s claims address. Patent claims in this space typically specify a maximum process temperature or an activation method designed to work at reduced temperature, which is why ‘activation at reduced’ and ‘thermal budget’ both appear as search terms defining this landscape.
Why is the most recent filing year in this dataset likely undercounted?
Patent applications are typically published around 18 months after filing, so any record filed in late 2025 or 2026 may not yet be publicly visible in this dataset as of the 2026-07-31 cut-off. The filing trend shows 2026 at 0 and 2025 as the peak year at 4, but both figures should be read as a floor rather than a final count. Anyone using this trend to judge whether activity is slowing should wait for at least one more publication cycle before drawing that conclusion.
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 Low-Temperature Processing for 3D Integration 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.