Rapid Thermal Annealing Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
Rapid Thermal and Millisecond Annealing Patents: Who Leads and Where Filing Concentrates
Concentrated at the top. the leading five assignees account for 726 of 2,309 records in scope (31.4%), and the leading ten hold 43.3%. Annual filings rose from 72 in 2017 to a peak of 76 in 2018, then eased; the 2021-to-2024 comparison the dataset supports shows a 27% decline (41 to 30 records), with 2025 and 2026 figures still incomplete due to publication lag.
- 1TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO LTD12.3%
- 2INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE CORPORATION5.9%
- 3APPLIED MATERIALS INC5.6%
- 4GLOBALFOUNDRIES INC4.2%
- 5TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC3.4%
See the full rapid thermal and millisecond annealing 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 rapid thermal and millisecond annealing?
Filing in this field is concentrated: the leading assignee holds 285 of the 2,309 records in scope, and the top five combined account for 726 records, or 31.4% of the total. The top ten extend that to 43.3%. Below that tier, the remaining assignees in the 100-company ranking each hold progressively smaller counts, forming a long tail of narrower filing programmes.
Is patent filing in rapid thermal annealing growing or slowing down?
Annual filings peaked at 76 records in 2018 and the most recent complete comparison the data supports shows a decline from 41 records in 2021 to 30 in 2024, a 27% drop. However, because publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in any trend chart are still incomplete and should not be read as confirming a continued slowdown.
What technology areas dominate rapid thermal annealing patents?
H01L, the general semiconductor-devices classification, appears on 87.1% of the 2,309 records in scope, making it by far the most common classification. H10P follows at 36.2% and H10D at 20.1%, while more specific areas like crystal growth (C30B, 7.5%) and coating and surface deposition (C23C, 3.2%) are present but far less crowded, indicating narrower but still open claim territory.
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 Rapid Thermal and Millisecond Annealing 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.