This landscape identifies 276 published records between 2015 and the August 2026 data cut-off that combine micro- or nanomanufacturing terms with process-control language such as tool geometry, dimensional tolerance or material feed. That is a scoped count based on a specific search string, not a count of every patent ever filed that touches micro- or nanoscale manufacturing broadly. Filing peaked in 2018 at 28 records and has continued at a lower but active pace since, with the most recent years understated by publication lag.

The dataset ranks 100 assignees by record count, with the leader holding 16 records and the top five together accounting for 55 records, or 19.9% of the 276 in scope. Below the top ten the ranking spreads into a long tail of academic groups and named individual inventors filing one or a handful of records each. That pattern — a compact leading group followed by a shallow, wide tail — is typical of a field where lab and university research still drives a meaningful share of filing.

Semiconductor device claims under IPC class H01L appear on 24.6% of the 276 records, the largest single share, followed by optical elements and systems (G02B) at 16.7% and photolithography and photomechanics (G03F) at 10.5%. MEMS-specific classes B81C and B81B sit lower, at 9.8% and 6.5% respectively, which points to comparatively less crowded claim space in MEMS process control than in semiconductor structure or optics. Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, these shares add up to more than the total record count.