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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/mems-microphone-design-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Acoustic ComponentsMEMS Microphone Design Patents: Who Leads and Where Filing Is Heading
- 46.4% concentration. The top 5 assignees alone account for 299 of the 644 records in scope, a tight cluster around package and diaphragm claims.
- Filings past their peak. 2017 was the high-water mark at 59 filings; the 2021-to-2024 window shows a -39% pull-back, with 2025-26 still filling in as publications lag.
- Package claims dominate. H04R covers 85.7% of records and B81B/B81C together anchor the MEMS structural and manufacturing side, leaving narrower semiconductor-integration classes comparatively thin.
644
Published Records
46%
Top-5 Share of All Records
-39%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (23 records) with 2024 (14) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 644 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What the MEMS microphone design patent record shows
MEMS microphone design sits at the intersection of acoustic transducer engineering and semiconductor packaging: diaphragm geometry, back volume, perforation pattern and package port all show up as distinct claim elements across the 644 records in scope. The search string ties acoustic-performance language — signal-to-noise, acoustic overload point, sensitivity matching — to the physical package and MEMS structure, which is why H04R and B81B dominate the class breakdown rather than pure semiconductor-device classes.
Filing activity peaked in 2017 and has since cooled, though the most recent years are still incomplete because publication trails filing by roughly 18 months. The assignee ranking is concentrated at the top, but a long tail of smaller filers still holds narrower package and diaphragm variants.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2015–2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on MEMS Microphone Design covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
The Numbers
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 644-record set: how filing activity has moved year over year, and how those records distribute across IPC subclasses.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings ran at 59 in 2017, the peak year, before easing to 23 by 2021 and 14 by 2024 — a -39% move across that three-year span. 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so no conclusion should be drawn yet about the very latest years.
IPC subclass composition
H04R (loudspeakers and audio transducers) appears in 85.7% of the 644 records, confirming this is fundamentally an acoustic transducer field. B81B (MEMS microstructures, 30.9%) and B81C (MEMS manufacturing, 13.2%) mark the structural and process side, while H01L, H10P, H10D, H10N and H10W each cover a smaller, more specialised slice of semiconductor integration claims.
Shares are the percentage of the 644 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on MEMS Microphone Design covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
Go deeper on MEMS Microphone Design with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about mems microphone design and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaKey Patents
Representative and most-cited filings
Representative Filing
US9420378B1 — Top port MEMS microphone package and method
AMKOR TECHNOLOGY SINGAPORE HOLDING PTE.LTD.
A top port MEMS microphone package includes a substrate with a back volume expanding aperture. The MEMS microphone component sits directly above that aperture, and a lid with its own cavity is mounted over the substrate so the back volume expanding aperture couples the component's aperture to the lid cavity — effectively growing the usable back volume to close to the size of the whole package.Filed by Amkor Technology Singapore Holding, granted 2016-08-16.
Most-cited records in this dataset
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20100052082A1 | Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) package and method for forming the MEMS package | 280 |
| 2 | US20100183181A1 | Miniature MEMS condenser microphone packages and fabrication method thereof | 168 |
| 3 | US20100246877A1 | Miniature MEMS Condenser Microphone Package and Fabrication Method Thereof | 166 |
| 4 | US20080267431A1 | Mems Microphone | 166 |
| 5 | US20150001647A1 | MEMS Microphone with Low Pressure Region Between Diaphragm and Counter Electrode | 147 |
| 6 | US20110075875A1 | MEMS microphone package | 145 |
| 7 | US20120087521A1 | Microphone Package with Embedded ASIC | 143 |
| 8 | US20080157301A1 | Leadframe package for MEMS microphone assembly | 132 |
| 9 | US20100322443A1 | MEMS microphone | 124 |
| 10 | US20100322451A1 | MEMS Microphone | 124 |
Citation counts favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations within this searched corpus — read them as a signal of influence, not of current technical importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on MEMS Microphone Design covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the concentration and trend data mean for filing strategy
Three figures from this dataset matter most for anyone deciding where to file or design around existing claims.
Concentration
46.4%
of 644 records held by top 5 assignees
Claim space is crowded at the top
With 299 of 644 records held by five assignees, package and diaphragm fundamentals are heavily claimed. New filings in this zone face dense prior art and should expect narrow, incremental claim scope rather than broad coverage.
Based on the full 644-record assignee ranking
Filing momentum
-39%
filings, 2021 to 2024
Activity has cooled from its 2017 peak
Filings dropped from 23 in 2021 to 14 in 2024. That is a genuine slowdown over a complete three-year window — it does not reflect the incomplete 2025-26 data, which will fill in as publications catch up to filing dates.
2017 peak: 59 filings; complete-year comparison only
Technology mix
85.7%
of records carry H04R
Acoustic transducer claims anchor the field
H04R touches the vast majority of records, but B81B and B81C show the MEMS structural and manufacturing side is a distinct, smaller cluster — useful for scoping a freedom-to-operate search that isn't purely acoustic.
Class shares sum above 100% because records carry multiple IPC codes
Jurisdictions
335
US-received filings
US filing dominates, PCT and EPO close behind
United States receives the largest single share of filings at 335, with WIPO (PCT, 73) and Europe (EPO, 72) as the next largest routes, followed by China (64) and the UK (38) — a filing footprint skewed toward US and European protection.
Receiving office counts across the 644-record set
Eureka AI Agent
Looking for what nobody has claimed yet?
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to mems microphone design, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on MEMS Microphone Design covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Players
Who holds the ground and where gaps remain
The ranked leaders sit atop a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants, and recent-year momentum has cooled even among the largest assignees.
Leader
99
records
A clear single leader
The top-ranked assignee holds 99 of the 644 records, well ahead of fifth place at 24 and tenth place at 15 — a steep drop-off that marks this as a leader-plus-cluster field rather than an evenly split one.
From the 100-company assignee ranking
Momentum
0
filings in latest year for several top assignees
Even leaders have gone quiet recently
Several of the highest-ranked assignees, including the largest filers by cumulative count, show zero filings in the latest tracked year. This is consistent with the broader -39% cooling trend rather than a sign any single company has exited the space.
Recent-year momentum by assignee
Collaboration
10
co-assignee pairs
Co-filing is limited but concentrated
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, and the strongest pairing recurs 11 times — a modest signal that most invention here is filed by a single entity rather than through joint development.
Strongest pair recurs across 11 shared filings
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Knowles Electronics LLC | 0 | -100% |
| InvenSense Inc | 0 | — |
| Cirrus Logic International Semiconductor Ltd | 0 | — |
| Robert Bosch GmbH | 0 | — |
| Analog Devices, Inc. | 0 | — |
| AAC Acoustic Technologies (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| TDK Electronics AG | 0 | — |
| Sonion Nederland B.V. | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on MEMS Microphone Design covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's Next
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether you are scoping freedom-to-operate or looking for a filing opening.
Run a freedom-to-operate check on package claims
With 46.4% of records held by five assignees, any new package or diaphragm design should be checked against the most-cited filings before committing to a claim strategy.
Explore in EurekaTrack the cooling filing trend by assignee
The -39% move from 2021 to 2024 is broad-based, but confirming which specific assignees pulled back versus which held steady changes where competitive risk actually sits.
Explore in EurekaScope the under-claimed sub-areas
Perforation pattern and package port routing show thinner coverage than core diaphragm claims — worth a targeted search before assuming the space is closed.
Explore in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on MEMS Microphone Design covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions about MEMS microphone design patents
The dataset's assignee ranking shows a single leader holding 99 of the 644 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-ranked assignee at 24. The top five assignees combined account for 46.4% of all records, so filing activity is concentrated among a small group even though the full ranking covers 100 companies. Anyone assessing competitive risk should look at both the leader's portfolio and the next four ranked assignees, since together they define most of the claimed ground.
No — filings peaked in 2017 at 59 and had fallen to 14 by 2024, a -39% decline over the 2021-to-2024 window using complete-year data. Figures for 2025 and 2026 look lower still, but that reflects publication lag of roughly 18 months rather than an actual drop in filing activity, so those years should not be read as confirming the trend yet. The honest read is that the field has cooled from its 2017 peak, not that it has stopped.
H04R, the loudspeaker and audio transducer class, appears in 85.7% of the 644 records, confirming the field is fundamentally about acoustic transducers rather than generic semiconductor devices. B81B (MEMS microstructures) and B81C (MEMS manufacturing) cover 30.9% and 13.2% of records respectively, marking the structural and fabrication side. Smaller shares in H01L, H10P, H10D, H10N and H10W show semiconductor-integration claims are present but comparatively narrow slices of the whole.
Narrower branches such as perforation pattern optimisation, package port acoustic routing and back-volume expansion structures show thinner coverage than the core diaphragm and package claims held by the leading assignees. These are still real claim elements within the search scope, just less densely filed than the fundamentals. A targeted prior-art search on one of these specific sub-areas is a more productive starting point than trying to claim broad package or diaphragm geometry, which sits under the heaviest coverage.
US9420378B1, assigned to Amkor Technology Singapore Holding and granted in 2016, claims a top-port MEMS microphone package where a back-volume-expanding aperture in the substrate connects the MEMS component's own aperture to a lid cavity above it. The effect is that the usable back volume approaches the size of the entire package rather than being limited to a small internal cavity. Anyone designing a top-port package with a similarly expanded back volume via a substrate-to-lid aperture path should review this claim scope directly rather than assume it is narrow.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on MEMS Microphone Design covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Research MEMS Microphone Design in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole mems microphone design corpus yourself, in your own scope.
Every answer comes back with patent numbers you can open.
Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company's registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.