Nanosheet Scaling & CFET (GAA) Patent Landscape 2026
The nanosheet scaling and CFET (gate-all-around) patent field is highly concentrated, with IBM, TSMC, and Tokyo Electron holding commanding positions among a relatively small corpus of 207 patent families. The field has reached a maturity plateau near its 2020 peak, though new entrants including Qualcomm and Intel signal sustained strategic interest from circuit-design and platform-IP perspectives.
IBM leads a highly concentrated field; top five filers hold two-thirds of the leading hundred
IBM Corporation is the clear leader with 50 patent families, more than 60% ahead of the second-ranked TSMC at 31 patent families. Tokyo Electron and Applied Materials round out a tight four-way cluster at the top, each with 24–25 patent families.
The top five filers collectively account for 68% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, indicating strong concentration with a meaningful tier gap before the mid-tier players (Intel at 16, GlobalFoundries at 9, IMEC and the Institute of Microelectronics CAS at 8 each).
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | International Business Machines Corporation | 50 | |
| 2 | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. | 31 | |
| 3 | Tokyo Electron Ltd. | 25 | |
| 4 | Applied Materials, Inc. | 24 | |
| 5 | Qualcomm Incorporated | 19 | |
| 6 | Intel Corporation | 16 | |
| 7 | GlobalFoundries Inc. | 9 | |
| 8 | Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences | 8 | |
| 9 | IMEC (Interuniversitair Micro Electronics Centrum) | 8 | |
| 10 | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | 7 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | 7 | |
| 12 | Tokyo Electron US Holdings, Inc. | 4 | |
| 13 | Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. | 2 | |
| 14 | LaVision GmbH | 2 | |
| 15 | SHANGHAI INST OF MICROSYSTEM & INFORMATION TECH CH… | 1 | |
| 16 | IBM United Kingdom Ltd. | 1 | |
| 17 | CVR College of Engineering | 1 | |
| 18 | NXP USA, Inc. | 1 | |
| 19 | Adeia Semiconductor Solutions LLC | 1 | |
| 20 | Krishna Kumar Bhuwalka | 1 |
IBM’s position reflects its long-standing role in process-device co-development; TSMC’s volume confirms that foundry-side nanosheet IP is a strategic priority as leading-edge nodes transition to GAA architectures. The presence of equipment makers Applied Materials and Tokyo Electron at ranks 3–4 underscores that process-integration IP is as contested as device-design IP.
Filings from approximately 2024 onward are subject to publication lag and will be materially undercounted; the apparent step-down in recent years should not be read as a decline in R&D activity. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Filing activity plateaued near a 2020 peak; semiconductor device classes dominate the mix
The annual filing trend reveals a field that surged between 2017 and 2020 before settling into a plateau, while the technology composition shows near-total dominance by core semiconductor device classifications with only thin coverage in adjacent branches.
Annual filing trend
Filings grew sharply from 9 in 2017 to a 2020 peak of 39, then oscillated in the 25–38 range through 2023. The apparent drop in 2024 and the near-zero 2025 figure reflect publication lag and should not be interpreted as a real decline. On a multi-year basis the field is still ahead of its 2017–2019 baseline, but annual volume has eased from the 2020 peak — consistent with a maturing technology wave.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H01L (Semiconductor devices) and H10D (Semiconductor devices, general) together account for the overwhelming majority of classified records, reflecting the device-architecture focus of the corpus. Memory-adjacent H10B has meaningful but smaller representation. Nanotechnology applications (B82Y), H10P, H10W, coating/deposition (C23C), crystal growth (C30B), and static memory (G11C) each have minimal coverage, flagging them as under-served branches relative to the core.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Complementary field effect transistor (CFET) with …
Disclosed are complementary field effect transistors (CFETs) with balanced n and p drive current, and methods for making the same. In an aspect, a CFET structure comprises an nFET with horizontal p-doped nanosheet channels arranged in a first vertical stack, each horizontal p-doped nanosheet channel having a width W<b>1</b>, and connecting a first source… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gate-all-around field-effect transistor devices ha… | 134 |
| 2 | Multi-threshold voltage gate-all-around field-effe… | 97 |
| 3 | Method for incorporating multiple channel material… | 90 |
| 4 | I/O device scheme for gate-all-around transistors | 90 |
| 5 | Self-aligned wrap-around contacts for nanosheet de… | 80 |
| 6 | Method for threshold voltage tuning through select… | 76 |
| 7 | Stacked nanosheet field effect transistor device w… | 73 |
| 8 | Stacked Nanosheet CFET with Gate All Around Struct… | 72 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
What the competitive structure means for R&D investment decisions
Four structural observations — maturity stage, concentration, collaboration patterns, and geographic filing spread — define the strategic context for any new entrant or existing player sizing R&D bets in nanosheet/CFET.
Field has plateaued near its 2020 peak
Annual filings have plateaued near their 2020 peak of 39 families, placing the field in a maturity stage. The multi-year window still shows positive growth from the 2017 baseline, but the era of rapid ramp-up has passed. For new entrants, this means foundational device-architecture claims are largely staked; differentiation requires either narrower specialization or adjacent-branch positioning.
Lifecycle: MaturityTwo-tier structure with a wide gap after rank 5
The top five filers hold 68% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, and the leader IBM alone holds 50 patent families versus TSMC’s 31. A mid-tier cluster of six players sits in the 7–16 family range. This two-tier structure means IP freedom-to-operate analysis must focus heavily on IBM and TSMC, whose broad device and process claims overlap most technical approaches.
High concentrationIMEC–Huawei and Tokyo Electron entities are the most active co-filers
The most active co-filing pair is IMEC (Interuniversitair Micro Electronics Centrum) and Huawei Technologies, sharing 5 joint families — a notable East–West research institute pairing. Tokyo Electron Ltd and Tokyo Electron US Holdings have 4 joint families, reflecting intra-group portfolio coordination. IBM and IBM United Kingdom share 1 joint family. The overall collaboration network is sparse, suggesting most players file independently rather than through structured alliances.
Sparse collaborationUS-centric filing with limited multi-jurisdictional coverage
The United States accounts for 151 patent records — the dominant jurisdiction by a wide margin. China and WIPO PCT filings each stand at 17 records, Europe (EPO) at 11, and Taiwan at 4. The thin PCT and EPO coverage relative to US filings suggests many players are not pursuing broad international protection, which may create freedom-to-operate space in non-US markets for those willing to file there.
US-centricGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| IMEC (Interuniversitair Micro Electronics Centrum) | Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | 5 |
| Tokyo Electron Ltd. | Tokyo Electron US Holdings, Inc. | 4 |
| International Business Machines Corporation | IBM United Kingdom Ltd. | 1 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
IBM anchors device architecture; TSMC, Applied Materials, and Qualcomm show contrasting trajectories
The leader board spans device designers, foundries, equipment makers, and a fabless chip company — each approaching the technology from a different IP angle. Momentum diverges sharply, with IBM pulling back in recent filings while Applied Materials and new entrants Qualcomm and Intel are accelerating.
International Business Machines Corporation
IBM holds 50 patent families — the largest position in the corpus — concentrated in H01L 29 (individual semiconductor devices), H01L 21 (semiconductor fabrication processes), and H10D (general semiconductor devices). Recent filing momentum shows a sharp –71% decline versus the prior period, suggesting IBM may be shifting from volume filing toward selective prosecution of existing families or transitioning foundry partnerships that reduce its direct R&D output in this area.
50 patent familiesApplied Materials Inc.
Applied Materials holds 24 patent families with a +40% recent filing trend, making it the fastest-growing established player in the top tier. Its technology focus spans H01L 29, H01L 21, and H01L 27 — covering both device structures and the deposition and etch processes critical to nanosheet stack formation. This trajectory positions Applied Materials as an increasingly assertive IP actor in process-integration claims as GAA transitions to high-volume manufacturing.
24 patent families| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| International Business Machines Corporation | 9 | ▼ -71% |
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. | 15 | ▬ 0% |
| Tokyo Electron Ltd. | 6 | ▼ -45% |
| Applied Materials, Inc. | 14 | ▲ +40% |
| Qualcomm Incorporated | 17 | ▲ new entrant |
| Intel Corporation | 14 | ▲ new entrant |
| IMEC (Interuniversitair Micro Electronics Centrum) | 4 | ▲ new entrant |
| Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences | 5 | ▲ new entrant |
Under-served adjacent branches worth monitoring in nanosheet / CFET
Three IPC branches sit at the periphery of the dominant H01L/H10D core, each with low double-digit or single-digit coverage. These are observations of relative sparsity; their technical adjacency to nanosheet architecture makes them worth watching, but low count alone does not confirm a viable opportunity.
B82Y · Nanotechnology Applications
B82Y covers cross-cutting nanotechnology classifications and appears on only 9 patent records in this corpus — roughly 2% of the technology composition. Nanosheet channels are by definition nanoscale structures, yet explicit nanotechnology classification is sparse, suggesting that most assignees are filing under device-specific H01L codes rather than the broad B82Y umbrella. A player seeking to build a broad foundational nanotechnology portfolio adjacent to GAA device claims could find relatively uncontested ground here, provided the claims are drafted to genuinely span applications beyond a single device architecture.
Search this in Eureka →H10P · Power Semiconductor Devices
H10P covers power semiconductor devices and appears on only 8 patent records in the corpus. GAA and nanosheet architectures have potential relevance to power-efficient switching applications, but this adjacency is currently under-explored in the patent record. Entry would require demonstrating how nanosheet channel geometry improves power device performance metrics — a technically plausible but non-trivial differentiation path. The sparse landscape means early movers would face limited prior art but also limited freedom-to-operate precedent.
Search this in Eureka →How the leading players differ across technology sub-routes
Route coverage across the main technology branches in the current evidence set.
| Player | H01L 29 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 21 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 27 · Semiconductor devices | H10D 62 · Semiconductor devices (general) | H10D 64 · Semiconductor devices (general) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| International Business Machines Corporation | Strong · 49 | Strong · 40 | Moderate · 22 | Strong · 38 | Strong · 27 |
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. | Strong · 22 | Strong · 29 | Strong · 30 | Moderate · 10 | Moderate · 10 |
| Tokyo Electron Ltd. | Strong · 23 | Strong · 23 | Strong · 24 | Moderate · 7 | Moderate · 7 |
| Qualcomm Incorporated | Strong · 19 | Strong · 15 | Strong · 17 | Strong · 10 | Strong · 10 |
| Applied Materials, Inc. | Strong · 24 | Strong · 16 | Moderate · 11 | Moderate · 9 | Moderate · 9 |
| Intel Corporation | Strong · 15 | Strong · 13 | Strong · 15 | Moderate · 6 | Moderate · 6 |
| GlobalFoundries Inc. | Strong · 8 | Strong · 8 | Strong · 7 | Strong · 7 | Moderate · 3 |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus covers 207 patent families. This figure represents the deduplicated family-level count across the global filing base analyzed.
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is the leading filer with 50 patent families, followed by TSMC at 31 and Tokyo Electron at 25. IBM’s lead is primarily in individual semiconductor device structures and fabrication process claims.
The field reached a peak of 39 annual filings in 2020 and has since plateaued in the 25–38 range through 2023. On a multi-year basis activity remains above the 2017–2019 baseline, but annual volume has eased from the 2020 peak. Data from 2024 onward is subject to publication lag and should not be read as a confirmed decline.
The United States is by far the most active jurisdiction with 151 patent records. China and WIPO PCT routes each account for 17 records, followed by Europe (EPO) at 11 and Taiwan at 4. The US-centric profile suggests limited broad international protection strategies among most filers.
The collaboration network is sparse. The most active co-filing pair is IMEC (Interuniversitair Micro Electronics Centrum) and Huawei Technologies with 5 joint families. Tokyo Electron Ltd and Tokyo Electron US Holdings share 4 joint families, and IBM and IBM United Kingdom have 1 joint family. Most players file independently.
Qualcomm and Intel are both flagged as new entrants with meaningful recent filing volumes (17 and 14 recent families respectively). Applied Materials shows a +40% increase in recent filings versus the prior period. By contrast, IBM’s recent filing trend is down 71% and Tokyo Electron is down 45%, though IBM retains the largest cumulative position.
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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.