MLCC Materials Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- Filing has already peaked. Records climbed from 130 in 2017 to a high of 270 in 2024, but the trend since the 2022 midpoint of 178 is flat to declining, not a growth curve.
- One filer dominates recent activity, but even they are pulling back. Murata logged 34 filings in the latest year, down 70% year-on-year — the steepest pullback among the active filers in this set.
- The US is the dominant filing office by a wide margin. 1,744 of the tracked records were filed at the USPTO, more than four times the next-largest office, Japan, at 403.
Filing growth compares 2021 (153 records) with 2024 (270) — 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 2,857 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks patent families addressing multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) materials and construction: dielectric layer thinning, barium titanate dielectric formulations, nickel electrode systems, temperature characteristic control and grain size management. The search spans H01G4 (capacitors), C04B35 (ceramics) and C01G23 (titanium compound chemistry), and covers publications from 2015 through the 2026-07-31 cut-off.
Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in this dataset are undercounts of true filing activity in those years; the 2024 peak of 270 records is the most reliable recent read on filing intensity.
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Filing trend and technology composition
The technology composition confirms the search is squarely a capacitor-materials story, with ceramics chemistry as the dominant secondary classification rather than a peripheral one.
A decade of filing, now past its peak
Annual filings rose from 130 in 2017 to a peak of 270 in 2024. With 2022 sitting at 178 as the rough midpoint, the shape is front-loaded growth followed by a plateau — not a technology still accelerating.
Where the classifications concentrate
H01G (capacitors) covers all but a small fraction of records at 2,806 of 2,857, with C04B (ceramics, 634) as the largest secondary class. Smaller but notable overlaps sit in H05K (printed circuits, 235), H01B (insulators, 231) and B32B (laminates, 51), pointing to packaging and board-integration claims layered on top of the core dielectric work.
Shares are the percentage of the 2,857 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Multilayer Ceramic Capacitor Materials with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about multilayer ceramic capacitor materials and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative and most-cited filings
US20050286208A1 — Multilayer ceramic capacitor (TDK Corporation, filed 2005-12-29)
The dielectric layers combine a barium titanate main component with a stacked set of auxiliary components: an alkaline-earth oxide group (MgO, CaO, BaO, SrO), a silicon-oxide-based sintering aid, a vanadium/molybdenum/tungsten oxide group, and a rare-earth oxide selected from a defined list including Sc, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu.The claim structure stacks four distinct auxiliary-component groups onto a barium titanate base, which is the pattern much of the later dielectric-formulation filing in this space has had to work around.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20170018363A1 | Multilayer ceramic capacitor | 173 |
| 2 | US5712758A | Multilayer ceramic chip capacitor and a process for its manufacture | 166 |
| 3 | US7345868B2 | Multilayer ceramic capacitor with terminal formed by electroless plating | 143 |
| 4 | US20080158774A1 | Multilayer ceramic capacitor with terminal formed by electroless plating | 120 |
| 5 | US3612963A | Multilayer ceramic capacitor and process | 119 |
| 6 | US5142439A | Integrated bus bar/multilayer ceramic capacitor module | 114 |
| 7 | US5403797A | Non-reducing dielectric ceramic composition | 106 |
| 8 | US20150340155A1 | Multilayer ceramic capacitor | 101 |
| 9 | US20150348712A1 | Multilayer ceramic capacitor, method of manufacturing the same, and board having the same | 97 |
| 10 | US20160196918A1 | Multilayer ceramic capacitor and board having the same | 95 |
Citation counts are drawn from within this searched corpus and favour older filings that have had more years to accumulate citations; treat them as a measure of influence on later filers, not of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three patterns stand out once family counts, offices and momentum are read together: the field is large but past its filing peak, the US is where contests over claim scope will actually be decided, and the leading incumbents are filing less, not more.
Growth has already crested
Annual filings rose steadily from 130 in 2017 to a peak of 270 in 2024, with the 2022 midpoint at 178. Filings for 2025-2026 read lower, but that is expected given publication lag; the more reliable signal is that the growth phase has passed its peak rather than being mid-climb.
The US is the primary battleground
United States filings outnumber the next office, Japan at 403, by more than four to one, with China (203), the EPO (180), South Korea (130) and WIPO (81) trailing further behind. Freedom-to-operate work for this technology should prioritise US prosecution history and file wrappers first.
The leading filer is pulling back, not scaling up
Murata filed 34 records in the latest year but that is a 70% drop year-on-year; Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Taiyo Yuden and Kyocera show even steeper declines, and TDK and Panasonic show zero latest-year filings in this set. A cooling incumbent pipeline is a different signal than an exiting one, and it opens room for new claims in adjacent formulations.
Ceramics chemistry is a first-class claim area, not a footnote
634 of 2,857 records also carry a C04B ceramics classification, and 235 touch H05K printed circuits — evidence that dielectric chemistry claims and board-integration claims are being prosecuted together rather than as separate silos.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to multilayer ceramic capacitor materials, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the claim space is still open
Filing activity concentrates around a small set of Japanese and Korean electronics majors alongside a distinct cluster of Chinese ceramics manufacturers, with co-assignee filings showing tight internal group structures rather than cross-company research partnerships.
Murata still leads volume but is filing less each year
Murata's latest-year count of 34 is the highest of any single assignee tracked here, but the 70% year-on-year drop suggests either a maturing internal portfolio or a shift in filing strategy away from this specific claim set.
Chinese ceramics groups file as coordinated units
The strongest co-assignee pair in this dataset, at 12 joint filings, links two entities within the same Chinese ceramics manufacturing group, with a second internal pair at 6. This points to centralised group IP strategy rather than open collaboration with outside labs.
One clear university-industry tie shows up
Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Sungkyunkwan University's technology transfer office co-file at a count of 5, the only academic partnership visible among the tracked co-assignee pairs, and a rare bridge between a corporate MLCC maker and a university lab in this set.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. | 34 | -70% |
| Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Ltd. | 1 | -97% |
| Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. | 1 | -90% |
| Kyocera Corporation | 1 | -50% |
| TDK Corporation | 0 | — |
| Panasonic Corporation | 0 | — |
| Kemet Electronics Corporation | 0 | — |
| Guangdong Fenghua Advanced Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
Where to take this next
The filing and office data point to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, white-space scouting, or tracking a specific incumbent.
Run a freedom-to-operate check against US filings
With 1,744 of 2,857 records filed at the USPTO, any commercial plan touching dielectric formulation or nickel-electrode structure should start its clearance search there before looking at other offices.
Explore US filings in EurekaTrack incumbent pullback as an opening
Murata, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Taiyo Yuden and Kyocera all show steep latest-year declines. Watch whether that pullback is portfolio consolidation or a genuine step back from active claim-building.
Monitor assignee momentum in EurekaScout the ceramics-electronics overlap
634 records carry a C04B ceramics classification alongside H01G capacitor claims. That overlap zone is where new formulation chemistry is likely to surface next.
Search the C04B/H01G overlap in EurekaCommon questions on MLCC materials patents
Within this dataset, Murata is the most active recent filer, with 34 records in the latest tracked year, ahead of Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Taiyo Yuden and Kyocera. TDK and Panasonic, both historically significant in this space, show zero filings in the latest year of this set, which likely reflects a shift in filing strategy or portfolio maturity rather than an exit from the technology. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent year for any of these assignees understates their true activity.
No, not on the evidence here. Filings rose from 130 in 2017 to a peak of 270 in 2024, with 2022 at roughly the midpoint at 178, but the trajectory since 2024 reads flat to declining. That does not mean the technology is stagnant commercially, but the pace of new claim filing has cooled from its growth phase.
The United States, by a wide margin: 1,744 of the 2,857 tracked records were filed there, more than four times the next office, Japan, at 403. China (203), the EPO (180), South Korea (130) and WIPO/PCT (81) matter for manufacturing and export markets but carry a much smaller share of the direct claim density seen at the USPTO.
It is a TDK filing on a barium-titanate-based dielectric layer that stacks four distinct auxiliary component groups: an alkaline-earth oxide group, a silicon-oxide sintering aid, a vanadium/molybdenum/tungsten oxide group, and a rare-earth oxide selected from a specific list including Sc, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu. Its citation count of 143-plus citing records elsewhere in this space (via related TDK filings) signals it has been a frequent reference point for later dielectric formulation claims, so any new barium titanate composition work should be checked against its specific auxiliary-component combinations.
The classification overlaps suggest a few: laminate-level integration claims (B32B, only 51 records against 2,806 in the core H01G class), titanate compound synthesis routes classified under C01G23 (40 records), and grain-boundary or rare-earth dopant control language that sits inside dielectric formulation claims but is rarely the primary claim focus. These are pockets where claim density is thin relative to the core dielectric and electrode space, not areas confirmed to be legally clear — a proper clearance search is still required.
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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.