Magnetron Sputtering Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
Magnetron Sputtering Deposition Equipment Patents: Who Files, What They Claim, and Where Space Remains Open
Concentration is modest at the top. the leading assignee holds 613 records but the top 5 combined account for only 18.4% of all 9,565 records in scope — this is not a field owned by one or two players. Annual filings ran from 217 in 2017 up to a peak of 363 in 2019, then eased to 217 by 2024 — a -39% move from 2021's 355 over that three-year span. Treat 2025 and 2026 as undercounted: publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the most recent years will fill in as more records publish.
- 1APPLIED MATERIALS INC6.4%
- 2OERLIKON SURFACE SOLUTIONS AG PFAFFIKON6.2%
- 3SUMITOMO ELECTRIC INDUSTRIES LTD2.3%
- 4TOKYO ELECTRON LTD1.8%
- 5JX NIPPON MINING & METALS CORP1.8%
See the full magnetron sputtering deposition equipment 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 magnetron sputtering patents
Who holds the most patents in magnetron sputtering deposition equipment?
The leading assignee in this dataset holds 613 records, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 170 and the tenth-place holder at 106. Even so, the top 5 assignees combined account for only 18.4% of all 9,565 records in scope, so no single company controls the field. The remaining activity is spread across a long tail of smaller filers, including equipment makers, semiconductor toolmakers and hard-coating specialists.
Is magnetron sputtering patent filing activity growing or slowing?
Filing peaked in 2019 at 363 records and has since eased, with a documented -39% change from 355 records in 2021 to 217 in 2024. That 2024 figure is the most recent year that can be treated as complete, since publication typically lags filing by around 18 months. It is accurate to describe the trend as cooling from its 2019 peak through 2024, but the 2025-2026 figures should not be read as a continued decline since they are still filling in.
What technology areas dominate magnetron sputtering patents?
Coating and surface deposition (IPC class C23C) appears on 65.3% of the 9,565 records, making it by far the dominant class. Electron and discharge tube technology (H01J) and semiconductor devices (H01L) follow at 23.6% and 16.2% respectively. Smaller shares in data storage media, alloys, tooling and layered products show the technology’s reach into downstream applications beyond the core deposition chamber, though these classes carry far less filing density.
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 Magnetron Sputtering Deposition Equipment 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.