Redistribution Layer Materials Patents: Leaders & White Space 2026
- Filing peaked in 2023 at 9 families and has not been matched since — the dataset shows a technology whose claim activity has already cooled from its high point rather than one still accelerating.
- 39 families concentrate almost entirely in the US 36 of the receiving-office filings are US, with only single filings at China, the EPO and via PCT — a signal of where enforcement actually matters.
- Momentum has stalled across every tracked assignee the leading filers each show zero filings in the latest tracked year, consistent with the broader flat-to-declining trend rather than one firm pulling back alone.
What this landscape covers
Redistribution layer (RDL) advanced materials sit at the intersection of packaging and materials chemistry: photosensitive dielectrics, low-CTE polymers and seed layer formulations that let a fan-out or fan-in package route signals from a small die to a larger ball-grid footprint. The search underlying this page combines RDL-specific title/abstract language with IPC classes covering semiconductor device structure (H01L23/538), polyimide-type polymer chemistry (C08G73) and semiconductor manufacturing processes (H01L21/48), so it captures both the material composition claims and the structural packaging claims that depend on them.
The corpus is small and US-centric: 39 patent families total, concentrated overwhelmingly under H01L with a large secondary cluster in H10W, and only a handful of records touching printed circuit assemblies, memory manufacture or antenna structures. That composition suggests a niche but well-defined claim space rather than a sprawling one, and it means individual assignees can hold outsized influence with only a few filings each.
Filing trend and technology mix
Two views of the same 39-family dataset: how filing activity has moved year over year, and how those filings distribute across IPC subclasses.
A flat-to-declining filing curve
Filings rose from 2 in 2017 to a peak of 9 in 2023, passing through 3 at the 2022 midpoint. With no year since 2023 matching that peak, and the most recent year necessarily undercounted because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the honest read is a technology whose patent activity plateaued rather than one in a sustained upswing.
H01L dominates, H10W is a strong second
Every one of the 39 families sits under H01L (semiconductor devices), with 24 also tagged to H10W. Beyond that, coverage thins fast: H05K (printed circuits) at 4, H10B (memory manufacture) at 3, H01Q (antennas) at 2 and H10P at 1 — a long tail of adjacent applications rather than a second core cluster.
Shares are the percentage of the 39 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Redistribution Layer Advanced Materials with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about redistribution layer advanced materials and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited prior art
Encapsulating composition, semiconductor package and manufacturing method thereof
Filed by Powertech Technology, this family claims an encapsulating composition combining a photosensitive dielectric material with a polarizable compound suspended within it. Under an external stimulus, the polarizable compound aligns uniformly through the thickness of the material to form a conductive path through the photosensitive dielectric — effectively building conductivity into the encapsulant itself rather than relying solely on a separate metal seed layer.Granted 2019-01-08 · US10177058B1
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20200168550A1 | Semiconductor package | 70 |
| 2 | US7268012B2 | Methods for fabrication of thin semiconductor assemblies including redistribution layers and packages and ass… | 50 |
| 3 | US20200126923A1 | Chip package and method of forming the same | 34 |
| 4 | US20200118989A1 | Light emitting device package structure and manufacturing method thereof | 26 |
| 5 | US20180166356A1 | Fan-out circuit packaging with integrated lid | 23 |
| 6 | US20180005931A1 | Circuit redistribution structure unit and method for manufacturing circuit redistribution structure | 12 |
| 7 | US20190312016A1 | Fan out packaging pop mechanical attach method | 10 |
| 8 | US11322450B2 | Chip package and method of forming the same | 8 |
| 9 | US11244904B2 | Semiconductor package including interposer | 5 |
| 10 | US20240258277A1 | Semiconductor packages and method for fabricating the same | 4 |
Citation counts reward older filings that have had more time to accumulate references within the searched corpus; read them as a measure of influence on subsequent filers, not as a ranking of current technical relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three read-outs from the trend and citation data, framed for someone deciding where to file or where to challenge.
Activity has already crested
The climb from a 2022 midpoint of 3 families to a 2023 peak of 9 looked like acceleration, but no later year has matched it. Combined with the 18-month publication lag understating the newest year, the safer assumption is that core claim territory here is largely staked out rather than still being contested.
This is a US enforcement story
With only single filings at China, the EPO and via PCT, freedom-to-operate analysis and licensing leverage in this space are overwhelmingly a US question. An assignee optimising for global coverage on RDL materials specifically would be filing well outside the pattern this corpus shows.
Influential filings are structural, not just material
The most-cited record in the corpus, US20200168550A1, is claimed as a semiconductor package rather than a bare material composition, and the next most-cited, US7268012B2, covers thin-assembly fabrication methods. Heavily cited prior art in this field tends to bundle material choice with structural or process claims rather than isolating the material alone.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to redistribution layer advanced materials, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the field is open
The assignee ranking is dominated by a small group of device and OSAT manufacturers, each showing zero filings in the latest tracked year — a pattern consistent with the flat overall trend rather than a single company's retreat.
A narrow, well-defended core
Nearly every family in this dataset carries both the H01L and H10W classifications, indicating that the field's core claim territory — RDL structure paired with the underlying material — is already covered by the leading filers rather than open ground.
Every tracked leader has paused
The assignees with the deepest filing history in this corpus, including major device manufacturers and OSAT houses, all show zero filings in the most recent tracked year. That is a field-wide pause, not a competitive opening created by one firm stepping back.
Thin coverage outside the US
Single filings at China, the EPO and via PCT mean that companies building freedom-to-operate positions outside the United States face a much sparser prior-art landscape here — thinner protection, but also thinner precedent to build on.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| Unimicron Technology Corp. | 0 | — |
| Intel Corporation | 0 | -100% |
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) | 0 | — |
| Intel IP Corporation | 0 | — |
| HengJing Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| AT&S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik AG | 0 | — |
| Micron Technology, Inc. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The trend and assignee data point to a field with a defined core and a thin periphery. Two directions follow from that.
Test freedom-to-operate against the top-cited records
Because the most influential prior art bundles structural packaging claims with material composition, a freedom-to-operate check on a new RDL material should not stop at the material claims — it needs to trace how those materials are claimed alongside package structure in the highest-cited families.
Explore prior art in EurekaMap the under-claimed branches before filing
The gap between the dense H01L/H10W core and the thin H05K, H10B and H01Q counts suggests specific packaging contexts — antenna-integrated and memory packaging among them — where a well-drafted material claim would face less crowded prior art.
Run a white space search in EurekaCommon questions on RDL advanced materials patents
In this dataset it covers three material classes tied directly to redistribution layer fabrication: photosensitive dielectrics used to pattern the insulating layers, low-CTE polymers chosen to reduce thermal-mismatch stress between the RDL and the die, and seed layer materials that provide the conductive base for subsequent metal plating. Filings typically combine one of these material claims with a structural packaging claim, such as a fan-out or fan-in RDL configuration. Because the search also pulls in IPC classes for polymer chemistry and semiconductor manufacturing process, some records emphasize the process of forming the layer rather than the material composition itself.
The available trend data shows filings rising from 2 in 2017 to 3 at the 2022 midpoint and on to a peak of 9 in 2023, without a public explanation in the dataset for the specific timing. What the data does show is that no later year has matched that peak, and the most recent year is undercounted regardless because patent publication typically lags filing by around 18 months. Treat 2023 as the high point observed so far rather than a permanent ceiling, since later filings from 2025 and 2026 may still be working through publication.
The assignee ranking in this corpus is led by a small group of device manufacturers and OSAT (outsourced semiconductor assembly and test) providers, but every one of the leading assignees shows zero filings in the most recent tracked year. That flat momentum across the top filers matches the broader plateau visible in the overall filing trend rather than indicating any single company's exit. Anyone tracking competitive activity here should watch for renewed filing rather than assume the leaders have permanently stopped.
Based on receiving-office data, this field is overwhelmingly a US filing story: 36 of the 39 tracked families were filed at the US patent office, against single filings at China, the EPO and via the PCT route. That imbalance means enforcement risk and licensing leverage are concentrated in the US, but it also means the prior-art landscape elsewhere is thin. A filer targeting China or European coverage specifically for RDL materials would be filing into comparatively open territory, for better or worse.
US10177058B1, assigned to Powertech Technology, claims an encapsulating composition that suspends a polarizable compound inside a photosensitive dielectric material so that, under an external stimulus, the compound aligns to form a conductive path through the dielectric's thickness. That claim structure ties the material composition to a specific mechanism for building conductivity into the encapsulant itself. Anyone designing a photosensitive dielectric that also carries conductive function through the same stimulus-responsive alignment mechanism should check this family closely before finalizing a formulation.
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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.