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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/polyimide-film-manufacturing-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Engineering PlasticsPolyimide Film Manufacturing Patents: Who Files, What They Claim, and Where the Field Is Still Open
- 16.0% concentration at the top. The five leading assignees hold 1,628 of the 10,147 records in scope — a real lead, but not a lock: the rest is a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants.
- Filing has cooled from its 2017 peak. 442 records published in 2017 fell to 153 by 2024, a -48% move over 2021-2024, though 2025-2026 figures are still filling in as publications lag filing.
- Semiconductor and circuit classes now rival the polymer chemistry itself. H01L and H05K appear on roughly a fifth to a quarter of all records, alongside the core C08G/C08J/C08L polymer classes — this is as much a device-integration field as a materials one.
10.1K
Published Records
16%
Top-5 Share of All Records
-48%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (294 records) with 2024 (153) — 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 10,147 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Field Overview
What this landscape covers
Polyimide film manufacturing sits at the intersection of aromatic polymer chemistry and device fabrication. The search string underlying this dataset pulls records that combine core casting and imidization process language — polyamic acid, casting solution, imidization process — with downstream application terms such as film tension, black polyimide and adhesive lamination. That combination is deliberate: it captures both the materials-science side of making the film and the process controls that determine whether it performs in a flexible display, a semiconductor package or a laminate stack.
Coverage runs from 2015 through the 2026-07-31 data cut-off, spanning 10,147 published records. Because publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one to two years in any trend understate real filing activity and should be read as provisional rather than declining.
Filing activity by year, 2015-2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Polyimide Film Manufacturing covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
The Numbers
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 10,147-record corpus: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how the underlying technology splits across IPC subclasses.
From a 2017 peak to a cooling trend
Filings peaked at 442 records in 2017. By 2021 the field was publishing 294 records a year, and by 2024 — the most recent year that can be treated as complete — that had fallen to 153, a -48% move. 2025 and 2026 show far lower counts, but that reflects publication lag rather than a real collapse in filing.
Polymer chemistry and device integration in near-parity
C08G (condensation polymers) leads at 27.8% of all records, closely trailed by H01L (semiconductor devices) at 26.9%. H05K (printed circuits), C08J (polymer processing) and C08L (polymer compositions) each sit between 17% and 19%, with B32B (laminates) at 13.6% and C08K (additives) at 8.9%. Because records can carry several classes, these figures do not sum to 100% — they show a field where film chemistry and device-side integration are claimed together about as often as either is claimed alone.
Shares are the percentage of the 10,147 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Polyimide Film Manufacturing covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
Go deeper on Polyimide Film Manufacturing with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about polyimide film manufacturing and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaFoundational IP
A representative early claim
Representative Record
US4778872A — Polyamic acid solution composition and polyimide film made therefrom
UBE INDUSTRIES, LTD.,
Discloses an aromatic polyamic acid solution comprising 5-40% by weight polyamic acid in an organic polar solvent, prepared from a tetracarboxylic acid component of biphenyltetracarboxylic acid and pyromellitic acid, and a diamine component of phenylenediamine and diaminodiphenyl ether, formed into an aromatic polyimide film.Filed by Ube Industries; issued 1988. Its claim structure around specific monomer mole-ratio ranges is a recurring pattern across later filings in this space.
View full recordMost-cited records in this corpus
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US7071287B2 | Aerogel metallic compositions | 1,530 |
| 2 | JP1992044075A | Heating device | 992 |
| 3 | US20110027127A1 | Analyte sensors and methods of manufacturing same | 882 |
| 4 | US20100210745A1 | Molecular Healing of Polymeric Materials, Coatings, Plastics, Elastomers, Composites, Laminates, Adhesives, a… | 718 |
| 5 | US20110028815A1 | Analyte sensors and methods of manufacturing same | 715 |
| 6 | US20110028816A1 | Analyte sensors and methods of manufacturing same | 704 |
| 7 | JP1992204980A | heater | 521 |
| 8 | US8967608B2 | Glass substrate-holding tool and method for producing an EUV mask blank by employing the same | 520 |
| 9 | US6809421B1 | Multichip semiconductor device, chip therefor and method of formation thereof | 510 |
| 10 | US5870289A | Chip connection structure having diret through-hole connections through adhesive film and wiring substrate | 495 |
Citation counts favour older, longer-indexed records — read them as a signal of influence within this searched corpus, not as a ranking of current technical importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Polyimide Film Manufacturing covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the data means for a filing decision
Three patterns worth acting on before drafting claims in this space.
Concentration
16.0% top-5 share
of 10,147 records
The top of the field is real but not dominant
The five leading assignees account for 1,628 of 10,147 records — enough to signal where prior art density is highest, but low enough that most of the field's claim space is held by companies outside that leading group.
Check leader portfolios before filing in adjacent claim territory.
Momentum
-48% (2021-2024)
filing volume, complete years
Filing has genuinely cooled from its peak
The 2017 peak of 442 records has not been matched since. A drop from 294 records in 2021 to 153 in 2024 marks a real slowdown in publications, even accounting for the fact that later years are still filling in.
Weigh whether reduced filing signals a maturing claim space or a shift to trade-secret practice.
Composition
26.9% H01L overlap
of records also touch semiconductor devices
Device integration is inseparable from film chemistry
Nearly as many records touch H01L semiconductor-device classification as touch the core C08G polymer class. Claims that isolate pure film chemistry without addressing device-side integration risk missing where competitors are actually filing.
Draft claims that span both the material and its integration context.
Eureka AI Agent
Looking for what nobody has claimed yet?
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to polyimide film manufacturing, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Polyimide Film Manufacturing covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Competitive Set
Who is active, and where they are pulling back
The ranking covers 100 companies drawn from the full assignee set behind this corpus — not a curated top list. Recent-year momentum points to a field where the largest historical filers have slowed sharply.
Leader
436 records
single leading assignee
One clear leader, then a fast taper
The leading assignee holds 436 records against a fifth-place figure of 252 and a tenth-place figure of 165 — a steep early drop-off rather than a plateau, meaning the mid-tier of the ranking is where competitive positioning is least settled.
Mid-tier assignees are the ones most likely to still be actively shaping claim scope.
Momentum
-50% to -80% YoY
across several historical leaders
Even top filers are pulling back
Several of the historically largest filers show sharp year-on-year declines in the latest year, with some recording zero filings. This is consistent with the broader -48% cooling trend rather than an isolated retreat by any single company.
Falling filing counts from a leader do not necessarily open the claim space they already hold.
Collaboration
10 co-assignee pairs
identified in the corpus
Co-filing is limited and concentrated
Only ten co-assignee pairs appear across the corpus, and the strongest of them involve the same handful of corporate groups filing jointly across related entities rather than cross-company collaboration.
Co-filing here mostly reflects internal group structure, not open partnership.
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd. | 1 | -80% |
| Resonac Corporation | 1 | -50% |
| Kaneka Corporation | 1 | -67% |
| E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company | 0 | — |
| Hitachi, Ltd. | 0 | — |
| LG Chem, Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Toshiba Corporation | 0 | — |
| Toray Industries, Inc. | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Polyimide Film Manufacturing covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Next Steps
Where to take this analysis
The figures above describe where the field has been. The questions that matter now are about where specific claim language sits and where it does not.
Map claim scope against the leading portfolios
Cross-reference specific casting solution or imidization process claims against the top-ranked assignees before drafting in adjacent territory.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaTrack the under-claimed branches
Low-CTE tension control, black polyimide dispersion and adhesive-free lamination show lower filing density than the core polymer classes — worth a deeper novelty check.
Run a white space search in EurekaWatch the 2025-2026 publication window
Current filing counts for the latest years are understated by publication lag; re-check this trend once those years complete.
Set up monitoring in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Polyimide Film Manufacturing covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions about polyimide film patents
One assignee leads the ranked field with 436 records, ahead of a fifth-place figure of 252 and a tenth-place figure of 165. Together the top five hold 1,628 records, which is 16.0% of the 10,147 records in scope — a real but not overwhelming concentration. The remainder of the field is a long tail of companies with far fewer filings each, so a full freedom-to-operate check needs to look well beyond the leaders.
Filing peaked in 2017 at 442 published records and has trended down since, with 294 records in 2021 falling to 153 in 2024 — a -48% move over that span. However, 2025 and 2026 counts are still low because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so those most recent years should not yet be read as continued decline. The clearest complete-year signal available is the 2021-2024 drop.
Condensation polymer chemistry (IPC class C08G) and semiconductor device integration (H01L) are the two largest categories, appearing on 27.8% and 26.9% of all 10,147 records respectively. Printed circuit assemblies (H05K), polymer processing (C08J) and polymer compositions (C08L) each cover 17-19% of records, with laminates (B32B) and additives (C08K) further behind. Because a single record can carry multiple classes, these figures overlap rather than sum to 100%, reflecting a field where film chemistry and device application are usually claimed together.
US4778872A, assigned to Ube Industries and issued in 1988, claims an aromatic polyamic acid solution made from specific mole-ratio ranges of biphenyltetracarboxylic acid, pyromellitic acid and phenylenediamine-based diamines, cast into an aromatic polyimide film. Its practical effect is to occupy a specific band of monomer ratios and solvent concentrations rather than the whole class of polyamic acid chemistry. Given its age, the patent itself is very likely expired, but the mole-ratio claim structure it established is a pattern that recurs across later filings in the space and is worth checking against when drafting similar composition claims.
Relative to the dense core classes — C08G polymer chemistry and H01L device integration — branches such as low-CTE film tension control, black polyimide pigment dispersion, adhesive-free lamination interfaces and additive-modified imidization kinetics show lower filing density in this corpus. That does not guarantee novelty, but it does mean fewer competing claims to design around. A targeted prior-art search on the specific sub-area is still needed before relying on this as clearance.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Polyimide Film Manufacturing covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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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.