PVD Interconnect Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Physical Vapor Deposition for Interconnect Patents
37.4% concentration at the top. The top five assignees hold 5,122 of the 13,707 records in scope, roughly one in three filings in the field. Annual filings climbed from 528 in 2017 toward a peak of 637 in 2022, then declined to 353 by 2024 — a 33% drop from the 2021 level of 527. Years after 2024 are still filling in under the publication lag and should not be read as a continued fall.
- 1APPLIED MATERIALS INC13.3%
- 2SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD8.3%
- 3TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO LTD7.0%
- 4LAM RES CORP4.6%
- 5MICRON TECHNOLOGY INC4.1%
See the full physical vapor deposition for interconnect analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions about this landscape
Who holds the most patents in physical vapor deposition for interconnect?
One assignee leads the ranked field with 1,828 records, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 561. The top five assignees combined hold 5,122 of the 13,707 records in scope, or 37.4% of the field, and the top ten reach 49.0%. That level of concentration means a small group of equipment and device makers controls close to half of all documented filings in this space, so any new filer should expect their claims to sit near, and possibly overlap, this group’s existing portfolios.
Is patent filing for PVD interconnect technology growing or slowing down?
Filing activity rose through the late 2010s, peaked at 637 filings in 2022, and then declined to 353 by 2024 — a 33% drop from the 2021 level of 527 filings. That decline is measured over a complete data window and is a genuine pullback, not a data artefact. Filings from 2025 onward are still incomplete because publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months, so they should not yet be read as confirming or reversing the trend.
What does US20020041028A1 actually claim?
US20020041028A1, filed by Samsung Electronics, covers a method for forming a damascene interconnection where a barrier layer is deposited across an etched opening and a seed layer is then formed using an ionized PVD apparatus with an RF-biased chuck that accelerates ions toward the substrate. The RF bias is specifically used to improve sidewall and bottom step coverage of the seed layer inside the via or trench opening. It is a representative early filing in this space rather than a blocking patent on its own, and its scope should be checked against later filings from the same and other assignees that build on ionized PVD bias control.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Physical Vapor Deposition for Interconnect covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.