Power Semiconductor Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- 23.4% concentration at the top. The five most active assignees account for 375 of the 1,603 records in scope, well short of a monopolised field but enough to make the front of the claim space crowded.
- Filing cooled after a 2020 peak. Annual filings hit 99 in 2020 and fell 40% from 83 in 2021 to 50 in 2024, the last year the data can treat as complete once publication lag is accounted for.
- H01L dominates, but not alone. 59.5% of records sit in H01L, yet H10D, H10W, H05K and H02M each carry a double-digit share, showing the field spans device structure, packaging and power conversion together.
Filing growth compares 2021 (83 records) with 2024 (50) — 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 1,603 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks 1,603 published records filed against power semiconductor devices, switching structures and the process steps that build them — wafer substrates, mask layers, circuit patterning and electrical characterisation — from 2015 through the 2026 cut-off. The search string ties device-level terms to fabrication-process terms, so the corpus favours records that describe both what the device does and how it is built, rather than pure circuit-design or software claims.
Reading it as families rather than raw filings matters here: continuation practice and multi-jurisdiction filing can inflate a single invention into several documents, so the concentration and trend figures below are given against the full record count, with family-level ranking used for the assignee table.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 1,603 records: how filing activity moved year over year, and how those records distribute across IPC subclasses. Because a record can carry more than one classification, the subclass shares add up to more than 100%.
Filings rose to a 2020 peak, then eased
Annual filings climbed from 59 in 2017 to a peak of 99 in 2020, then declined — 83 in 2021 down to 50 in 2024, a 40% drop over that span. Treat 2025 and 2026 as still filling in rather than as evidence of a further slowdown, since publication typically lags filing by around 18 months.
H01L anchors the field; power conversion and packaging follow
H01L (semiconductor devices) covers 59.5% of the 1,603 records, with H10D and H10W each near 15%, H05K (printed circuits & assemblies) at 12.0%, and H02M (power conversion) at 10.6%. The spread confirms that patent activity is not confined to the transistor structure itself — packaging and conversion circuitry carry substantial claim density too.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,603 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Power Semiconductors Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about power semiconductors patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited prior art in this field
High-Power Electronic Device Packages and Methods (US20160049351A1)
Filed by The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, this 2016 application describes a high-power electronic device package built around a GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT): a GaN thin film transistor structure bonded to a thermally conductive host substrate through a eutectic-contact interface layer, aimed at power amplifier applications including x-band RF power outputs for micro-radar use.Illustrates how packaging-level thermal management claims sit alongside device-structure claims in this field.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20050167742A1 | Power semiconductor devices and methods of manufacture | 722 |
| 2 | US7345342B2 | Power semiconductor devices and methods of manufacture | 421 |
| 3 | US6208020B1 | Leadframe for use in manufacturing a resin-molded semiconductor device | 376 |
| 4 | US5111253A | Multicellular FET having a Schottky diode merged therewith | 295 |
| 5 | US6562127B1 | Method of making mosaic array of thin semiconductor material of large substrates | 290 |
| 6 | US5929481A | High density trench DMOS transistor with trench bottom implant | 265 |
| 7 | US20060214221A1 | Power semiconductor devices and methods of manufacture | 249 |
| 8 | US20170046458A1 | Systems and methods for real-time DC microgrid power analytics for mission-critical power systems | 247 |
| 9 | US20040217488A1 | Ribbon bonding | 234 |
| 10 | US20120267681A1 | Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing semiconductor device | 218 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations — read them as a signal of influence on later filers, not as a measure of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the data means for filing strategy
Three patterns stand out once the numbers are read together: concentration at the top without lockout, a technology mix that spans device and packaging, and a filing curve that peaked before the most recent complete year.
The top of the field is busy, not closed
With the five leading assignees holding 23.4% of all records and the ranked ten holding 34.2%, no single company controls the space. A long tail of the remaining ranked assignees, plus filers outside the ranking altogether, still has room to establish position, particularly outside the device-structure core.
Device claims dominate, but packaging and conversion are not afterthoughts
H01L accounts for the majority of records, yet H05K (12.0%) and H02M (10.6%) each represent a meaningful independent claim base. A filing strategy built only around transistor structure misses where packaging and power-conversion claims are also being staked.
Activity has pulled back from its 2020 peak
Filings peaked at 99 in 2020 and fell to 50 by 2024, a 40% decline over three years. That is the last year the trend can be read as complete; 2025-2026 figures are still accumulating under normal publication lag and should not be read as a continued fall.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to power semiconductors patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Plasma Control Systems LLC | PRIBYL PATRICK A | 6 |
| Plasma Control Systems LLC | PRIBYL PATRICK | 2 |
| Plasma Control Systems LLC | EVANS JOHN D | 2 |
| Plasma Control Systems LLC | COHEN JERRY | 2 |
| Infineon Technologies AG | MA GORDON | 1 |
| Infineon Technologies AG | AHRENS CARSTEN | 1 |
Recent-year filing counts for several of the most active historical assignees have dropped to zero in the latest year, including a -100% year-on-year move for at least one; this is consistent with the broader post-2020 pullback rather than isolated to any single company.
Who is filing, and where the gate sits
The ranking covers 100 companies counted by record, from a leader at 112 records down through the fifth position at 52 and the tenth at 24. It is the full ranking the dataset returns, not a curated top-50 or top-100 list — most of the 100 sit well below the leaders, and the field outside the ranking is thinner still.
A clear leader, but not a dominant one
The leading assignee holds 112 of 1,603 records, roughly 7% of the field on its own. That is enough to set a reference point for freedom-to-operate searches but leaves the majority of the corpus in other hands.
The field thins quickly past the top ten
Record counts fall from 52 at fifth place to 24 at tenth, and continue tapering across the rest of the ranked 100. New entrants competing on volume alone are unlikely to catch the leaders quickly, but the tapering tail suggests filing space is still available mid-field.
Collaboration is rare and narrowly clustered
Only six co-assignee pairs appear across the corpus, and the strongest of them repeats the same organisation with different individual co-filers. Most power semiconductor patenting here is done by a single assignee acting alone, not through joint ventures or named research partnerships.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Infineon Technologies AG | 0 | — |
| General Electric Co | 0 | — |
| Paragraf Ltd | 0 | — |
| Semiconductor Components Industries LLC | 0 | -100% |
| Fuji Electric Co Ltd | 0 | — |
| Illinois Tool Works Inc | 0 | — |
| DIC Corp | 0 | — |
| Panasonic Holdings Corp | 0 | — |
Turning this landscape into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision
The figures above show where claim density sits today. Turning that into a decision on where to file, litigate or design around requires drilling into specific claim sets rather than aggregate counts.
Run a freedom-to-operate check against the leaders
The top-ranked assignee alone holds 112 of 1,603 records. Before committing to a device-structure claim, check its independent claims and those of the next four ranked assignees, which together hold 23.4% of the field.
Explore assignee claims in EurekaTest white-space branches for real gaps
Lighter-claimed branches such as packaging thermal interfaces or wafer-level characterization look open in aggregate counts but need a claim-by-claim check before you rely on them.
Run a white-space search in EurekaWatch the post-2020 filing pullback
Filings fell 40% from 2021 to 2024. Track whether that reflects consolidation, a shift to trade-secret protection, or simply incomplete publication data before adjusting your own filing pace.
Monitor filing trends in EurekaCommon questions about power semiconductor patents
The dataset's leading assignee holds 112 of the 1,603 records in scope, with the field concentrating somewhat further down: the top five assignees combined hold 375 records, or 23.4% of the total. That leaves more than three-quarters of the corpus spread across a long tail of other filers, so no single company controls the space outright. Anyone assessing freedom to operate should check the leading five to ten names first, then move to the mid-field ranked assignees for narrower structural claims.
Filings rose steadily from 59 in 2017 to a peak of 99 in 2020, then declined to 50 by 2024, a 40% drop over that three-year span. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in the dataset are still incomplete and should not be read as proof the decline is continuing. The safest read is that activity cooled from its 2020 peak through 2024, with the most recent trend still an open question.
H01L, the general semiconductor devices classification, covers 59.5% of the 1,603 records and is the densest single area. H10D and H10W each sit near 15%, while H05K (printed circuits and assemblies) and H02M (power conversion) each carry roughly 10-12% of records. Since records can carry multiple classifications, these figures overlap rather than sum to 100%, and the spread shows that packaging and conversion circuitry are meaningfully claimed alongside core device structure.
Relative to the dense H01L device-structure core, branches such as eutectic thermal-interface bonding for packaging, wafer-level electrical characterization for wide-bandgap materials, and mask-layer process control for conversion modules show lighter claim density in this dataset. That does not guarantee an open filing position — it means the aggregate counts are lower, and a claim-by-claim check against the leading assignees' portfolios is still needed before relying on any specific branch as unclaimed.
US20160049351A1, filed by the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, describes a high-power electronic device package built around a GaN HEMT transistor structure bonded to a thermally conductive substrate through a eutectic thermal-interface layer, aimed at power-amplifier and RF applications. It is a useful reference point for anyone patenting GaN packaging with a similar bonding architecture, but whether it blocks a new filing depends on the specific claim language and prosecution history, which requires a direct claim-chart comparison rather than the abstract alone.
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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.