Plasma Source & Ion Energy Patents: Who Leads, Where Gaps Are 2026
Plasma Source and Ion Energy Control Patents: Concentration, Momentum and Open Ground
58.7% of all 4,753 records sit with the five leading assignees, so most new filers are working around a small set of blocking positions rather than open ground. Annual filings moved from 201 in 2017 to a peak of 384 in 2021, then declined to 293 by 2024 — a 24% drop over that three-year span using the last complete filing years. 2025 and 2026 figures will rise as publications catch up, so treat the most recent two bars as a floor, not a verdict.
- 1VERSUM MATERIALS US LLC19.6%
- 2APPLIED MATERIALS INC17.3%
- 3TOKYO ELECTRON LTD8.6%
- 4LAM RES CORP7.4%
- 5MKS INSTR INC5.8%
See the full plasma source and ion energy control 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 on plasma source and ion energy control patents
Who are the leading patent holders in plasma source and ion energy control?
The dataset ranks 100 companies by record count, with a steep concentration at the top: the leading assignee holds 931 records, more than three times the fifth-place count of 276. The top five combined account for 58.7% of all 4,753 records in scope, and the top ten reach 66.1%. This is a field dominated by a small group of semiconductor equipment and materials suppliers rather than a broad, evenly distributed set of filers, so any competitive or freedom-to-operate analysis should start with those leading portfolios.
Is patent filing activity in plasma and ion energy control growing or slowing?
Filings rose from 201 in 2017 to a peak of 384 in 2021, then declined to 293 by 2024, a 24% drop over the last three complete filing years. Recent-year momentum data shows several leading assignees down 60-95% year on year in the most recent period. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025-2026 figures will rise as the backlog clears, but the 2021-2024 trend itself reflects genuine cooling rather than a reporting artefact.
What technology areas dominate plasma source and ion energy patent claims?
H01J (electron and discharge tubes) and H01L (semiconductor devices) each appear in roughly 40% of the 4,753 records, with C23C (coating and surface deposition) close behind at 36.8%. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these figures overlap substantially, showing that plasma-source hardware, device integration and deposition-film claims are frequently bundled into the same filings rather than pursued as separate, cleanly divided technology tracks.
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 Plasma Source and Ion Energy Control 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.