PIC Environmental Durability Patents: Leaders & White Space 2026
- 62 families total, with filings peaking in 2024 at 19 and no single year showing sustained growth from the 2022 midpoint of 7.
- G02B dominates at 49 of the corpus, while H01L, G02F and H01S each stay under 25 — packaging and optical-element claims lead, laser and modulation durability claims lag.
- The most-cited record has only 9 citations, signalling this is still a young, uncrowded citation network rather than one anchored by a small number of foundational patents.
What this landscape covers
This landscape tracks patent families at the intersection of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and environmental durability claims — thermal stability, humidity resistance, hermetic packaging durability and environmental reliability — filed against IPC classes covering optical elements, laser devices and semiconductor packaging. The corpus spans filings from 2015 through the 2026 cut-off, with 62 total families forming the ranking base.
Filing activity is concentrated in optical-element and semiconductor-packaging classifications rather than in laser or modulation-specific durability claims, which points to where the practical engineering pressure has been: getting a PIC and its electronic companion die to survive thermal cycling and moisture ingress once packaged, more than making the underlying laser or modulator itself more robust.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 62-family corpus: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how the durability claims split across IPC subclasses.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings rose from zero in 2017 to a peak of 19 in 2024, passing through a midpoint of 7 in 2022. The 2026 figure is a single record and reflects the reporting lag inherent in any partial year, not a collapse in activity — publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the most recent year is always undercounted at the point of measurement.
IPC subclass composition
G02B (optical elements & systems) leads at 49 records, well ahead of H01L (semiconductor devices, 22), G02F (optical control & modulation, 14) and H01S (lasers, 13). Smaller counts in G01K (temperature measurement, 8), H04B (transmission, 8) and G06F (data processing, 6) show durability claims occasionally reach into measurement and system-level classes but rarely anchor there.
Shares are the percentage of the 62 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Photonic Integrated Circuit Environmental Durability with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about photonic integrated circuit environmental durability and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited and most recent filings
Electrical interconnects for packages containing photonic integrated circuits
A semiconductor chip includes a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) with an active component electrically connected to a landing pad configured to receive a copper pillar, providing an electrical interconnect between the active photonic component and a second integrated circuit stacked on the PIC surface. The claim specifies the active component's centre is offset from the nearest landing-pad edge by a distance of less than 10 μm.Filed by Sicily Merger Sub II, Inc., published 2026-01-08 as US20260011705A1.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20250062258A1 | Method for assembling EIC to PIC to build an optical engine | 9 |
| 2 | US12436346B2 | Optically bridged multicomponent package with extended temperature range | 6 |
| 3 | US12189198B1 | Manufacturing optically accessible co-packaged optics | 6 |
| 4 | US9722705B2 | Method and apparatus for controlling, monitoring, and communicating with tunable optical devices and subassem… | 4 |
| 5 | US12197023B1 | Manufacturing optically accessible co-packaged optics | 3 |
| 6 | US20250216627A1 | Fiber array unit assembly and co-packaged optics using the same | 2 |
| 7 | US20250391822A1 | Electrical interconnects for packages containing photonic integrated circuits | 1 |
| 8 | US20250123452A1 | Manufacturing optically accessible co-packaged optics | 1 |
| 9 | US20250219036A1 | Electrical interconnects for packages containing photonic integrated circuits | 1 |
| 10 | US20250219035A1 | Electrical interconnects for packages containing photonic integrated circuits | 1 |
Citation counts favour older filings simply by virtue of being searchable longer; treat them as a signal of influence within this corpus, not as a ranking of current technical importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three cross-cuts of the corpus that matter for deciding where to file next.
Growth has flattened, not accelerated
The corpus moves from 0 filings in 2017 to a peak of 19 in 2024, but the 2022 midpoint of 7 sits well below a straight-line trajectory to that peak. That shape reads as a burst of packaging-durability filing activity around 2023-2024 rather than a steadily compounding field.
Optical-element claims dominate the IPC mix
Nearly four in five records touch G02B (optical elements & systems), while H01S (lasers) accounts for only 13. Durability engineering in this field is being claimed mostly at the packaging and optical-path level, not at the laser-die level.
US filing leads by a wide margin
United States receiving-office filings (31) outnumber Europe (10) and WIPO/PCT (10) combined by a small margin, with Singapore, Australia and the UK each in single digits. Any freedom-to-operate check should start with the US docket before expanding to EPO and PCT families.
No dominant foundational patent yet
The most-cited record in the corpus carries only 9 citations, and the next four cluster between 3 and 6. That is a thin citation network for a 62-family corpus, consistent with a technology area still forming its prior-art backbone rather than one already settled around a handful of blocking patents.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to photonic integrated circuit environmental durability, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gate sits
Assignee activity in this corpus is thin at the top: recent-year momentum figures show several named assignees at zero filings in the latest year, including one down 100% year over year, which points to a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants rather than a small group of firms racing each other.
Recent-year activity has gone quiet across the named assignees
Every assignee in the recent-momentum tracking shows zero filings in the latest year, and the leading name in that list is down 100% year over year. That is consistent with either a pause after the 2024 peak or a lag in publication for filings made near the cut-off date.
Co-filing is rare
Only two co-assignee pairs appear across 62 families, both involving the same corporate parent filing jointly with a regional subsidiary. Durability patents here are being filed by single entities far more often than through joint development structures.
US-first filing strategy is the norm
Roughly half of all records enter through the United States receiving office, with Europe and PCT filings tied at 10 each. Singapore, Australia and the UK each register only 2-3 filings, suggesting most applicants treat those as secondary or defensive jurisdictions rather than primary markets.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Skywater AI Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Intel Corporation | 0 | — |
| Koninklijke Philips N.V. | 0 | — |
| International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) | 0 | — |
| Avago Technologies | 0 | — |
| Nantah Venture Private Limited | 0 | — |
| BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The filing and citation data point to specific next steps depending on whether you are scoping freedom-to-operate or looking for open claim space.
Map the packaging-durability claim boundaries
With 49 of 62 records touching G02B, a claim-by-claim read of the optical-element durability filings will show exactly how tight that space already is before you draft around it.
Explore claim charts in EurekaTrack the quiet assignees for a re-filing signal
Several named assignees show zero filings in the latest year after 2024's peak. A monitoring alert on those names will catch the next filing before it becomes public knowledge.
Set up assignee monitoring in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
The tracked corpus contains 62 total patent families filed between 2015 and the 2026 data cut-off. This counts families rather than raw publications, which is the fairer unit because it neutralises duplicate continuation filings and multiple jurisdictional copies of the same invention. Filing activity peaked in 2024 at 19 families, and the field remains small enough that no single assignee or citation cluster dominates it yet.
The trend is flat rather than clearly rising: from 0 filings in 2017, activity reached a midpoint of 7 in 2022 before peaking at 19 in 2024. That trajectory is uneven rather than compounding, and the apparent drop in 2025-2026 is at least partly a reporting artefact, since publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months. A clearer read on 2025-2026 activity will only be available once those applications finish publishing.
G02B (optical elements and systems) is by far the largest class in this corpus at 49 of 62 records, followed by H01L (semiconductor devices) at 22, G02F (optical control and modulation) at 14, and H01S (lasers) at 13. This tells you that most durability claims are being written at the optical-path and packaging level rather than inside the laser die itself. Anyone drafting new claims in laser-specific thermal or humidity resistance is filing into comparatively open space by comparison.
US20260011705A1, filed by Sicily Merger Sub II, Inc. and published 2026-01-08, claims a specific electrical interconnect geometry: a copper-pillar landing pad on a PIC surface positioned so the active photonic component's centre sits less than 10 μm from the nearest landing-pad edge, enabling a second integrated circuit to be stacked directly on the PIC. It blocks that specific tight-offset stacking geometry, not PIC packaging generally. Designs using different interconnect geometries, larger offsets, or non-copper-pillar connections fall outside this particular claim and would need their own freedom-to-operate check against the rest of the corpus.
The recent-year momentum data shows a striking pattern: every tracked named assignee, including several large electronics and technology firms, reports zero filings in the latest tracked year, with one showing a 100% year-over-year decline. Combined with only two co-assignee pairs across the entire 62-family corpus, this points to a fragmented field of mostly single-entity filers rather than a small set of firms racing to build a dominant portfolio. Anyone assessing competitive position here should treat rankings as a snapshot of past filing rather than a forecast of who will file next.
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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.