Scanning Probe Tips Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- 34.7% concentration. The five leading assignees hold 376 of 1,084 records in scope — dense but not closed to new entrants.
- Filing has cooled from its 2017 peak of 57. The evidenced 2021→2024 span shows a 47% drop, from 15 to 8 filings a year among complete-year data.
- G01Q dominates at 71.3% of records. But G11B, G01R and H01L each sit under 7%, marking branches with much less claim density.
Filing growth compares 2021 (15 records) with 2024 (8) — 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 1,084 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the scanning probe tip patent record shows
Scanning probe tip and functionalization patents cover the physical tip, cantilever and coating engineering that determines resolution, durability and cost in atomic force and scanning probe microscopy. The dataset in scope spans 1,084 published records filed between 2015 and mid-2026, drawn from a search string that pairs core probe terms — scanning probe tip, cantilever probe, tip functionalization — with the practical constraints practitioners file around: tip radius, resonance frequency, coating durability, batch consistency, probe cost and tip contamination.
Filing activity peaked in 2017 and has since declined through the most recent complete years, though publication lag of roughly 18 months means the last one or two years in any chart will understate true filing volume. Assignee concentration sits in the mid-range: the leading company alone accounts for a substantial share of records, but the presence of a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants means the field has not consolidated into a two- or three-player race.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 1,084 records: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how records distribute across IPC subclasses. Because a single record can carry more than one IPC class, the class shares below add up to more than 100% of the record total.
A 2017 peak followed by a multi-year pullback
Filings reached 57 in 2017, the high point of the whole window. The evidenced three-year span from 2021 to 2024 shows filings falling from 15 to 8 — a 47% decline over years complete enough to compare. Treat 2025 and 2026 figures as provisional; they will revise upward as publications catch up with filing dates.
Measurement and metrology dominate; adjacent applications lag
G01Q (scanning-probe and nanometric measuring) appears in 71.3% of the 1,084 records, making it the anchor class for this dataset by definition of the search terms. G01N (material analysis) and G01B (length measurement) follow at 25.8% and 19.4%. Below that, B82Y, G12B, G01R, H01L and G11B each sit in a narrow band between 5.8% and 6.8% of records — a sign that semiconductor, magnetic-storage and electric-measurement applications of probe tip technology are claimed far less densely than the core metrology function.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,084 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Scanning Probe Tips and Functionalization with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about scanning probe tips and functionalization and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative and most-cited filings
US6249000B1 — Scanning probe microscope
A scanning probe microscope comprises a cantilever probe disposable proximate a surface of a sample and having a first resonance frequency. A three-dimensional fine movement element scans the cantilever probe and the surface of the sample relative to one another two-dimensionally. A sensor cantilever detects displacement of the cantilever probe during relative scanning movement between the cantilever probe and the surface of the sample. The sensor cantilever has a second resonance frequency different from the first resonance frequency and is disposed spaced apart but within touching distance from the cantilever probe so that displacement of the cantilever probe is transmitted to the sensor cantilever.Filed by Seiko Instruments, granted 2001 — an early architecture patent on dual-cantilever resonance-frequency sensing that predates most of the dataset's filing activity.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20070190543A1 | Coded Molecules for Detecting Target Analytes | 322 |
| 2 | US6564089B2 | Optical imaging device | 318 |
| 3 | US20030004412A1 | Optical imaging device | 309 |
| 4 | US20030135971A1 | Bundle draw based processing of nanofibers and method of making | 225 |
| 5 | US6615072B1 | Optical imaging device | 213 |
| 6 | US6143190A | Method of producing a through-hole, silicon substrate having a through-hole, device using such a substrate, m… | 172 |
| 7 | US6408123B1 | Near-field optical probe having surface plasmon polariton waveguide and method of preparing the same as well … | 170 |
| 8 | US5824470A | Method of preparing probes for sensing and manipulating microscopic environments and structures | 167 |
| 9 | US5436448A | Surface observing apparatus and method | 144 |
| 10 | US5298975A | Combined scanning force microscope and optical metrology tool | 136 |
Citation counts favor older records simply because they have had more time to accumulate citations within the searched corpus — read them as a signal of influence on the field, not as a ranking of current technical importance.
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Browse MCP servers →What the concentration and trend data mean for filing strategy
Three figures from the dataset matter most for anyone deciding where to file or where to look for freedom to operate.
Leadership is real but not exclusive
The leading assignee alone holds 223 records, well ahead of fifth place at 30. That gap suggests one company built an early, broad position, while the remaining leaders and the long tail behind them compete on narrower, more specific claims.
Activity has cooled from its 2017 high
Filing peaked at 57 in 2017 and has trended down through the most recent complete years. This does not necessarily mean the underlying technology is exhausted — it may reflect consolidation of claim space by early movers or a shift toward trade-secret protection for coating and functionalization processes.
Core metrology crowds out application classes
With G01Q present in nearly three-quarters of records and the next largest class, G01N, at only 25.8%, the bulk of documented invention concentrates on the measuring instrument itself rather than on downstream uses in semiconductors, data storage or electric measurement.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to scanning probe tips and functionalization, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the ground, and where it's open
The assignee ranking covers 100 companies counted by patent family, drawn from all 1,084 records in scope — it is the complete ranking the dataset returns, not a curated top list.
A wide gap over the field
The leading assignee's record count is more than seven times that of the tenth-ranked company (17 records), indicating a long-standing, broad filing program rather than a recent land grab.
The next five add less than the first five
Ranks six through ten contribute a combined share smaller than the top five alone, which points to a fairly steep drop-off in filing volume once you move past the handful of largest programs.
Joint filings are the exception, not the rule
Co-assignment activity is limited to a small number of pairs, the strongest linking an instruments maker with an individual inventor. This suggests most invention in this field is filed by a single organisation rather than through university-industry or multi-company partnerships.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Bruker Nano Inc | 0 | -100% |
| Veeco Instruments Inc | 0 | — |
| Regents of the University of California | 0 | — |
| International Business Machines Corporation | 0 | — |
| Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | 0 | — |
| Oxford Instruments Asylum Research Inc | 0 | — |
| SU CHANMIN | 0 | — |
| PRATER CRAIG | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether you're clearing a design or scouting for filing gaps.
Check freedom to operate against the leading assignee's portfolio
With 223 records concentrated in one program, any new tip or functionalization design should be checked against that assignee's claim scope before committing engineering resources.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaModel the under-claimed branches before the window closes
H01L, G01R and G11B all sit below 7% of records despite adjacency to the core technology. A first-mover claim in one of these branches faces less prior art than a new G01Q filing.
Run a white space search in EurekaTrack filing recovery past the 2024 data point
Because publication lags filing by about 18 months, 2025 and 2026 counts will revise upward. Re-run the trend in six to twelve months before concluding the field is still contracting.
Set a monitoring alert in EurekaCommon questions about scanning probe tip patents
One assignee leads the ranked field with 223 records, well ahead of the fifth-ranked company at 30 and the tenth-ranked at 17. The top five assignees combined hold 376 of the 1,084 records in scope, or 34.7% of the total. That leaves the majority of records spread across a long tail of smaller filers, so the field is led but not dominated by a single company.
Filing peaked in 2017 at 57 records and has declined since, with the most recent complete-year comparison showing a drop from 15 filings in 2021 to 8 in 2024, a 47% decline. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by about 18 months, so the true recent trend is understated in any chart you look at today. A meaningful read on current momentum requires waiting for those later years to fill in.
G01Q, the IPC subclass for scanning-probe and nanometric measuring, appears in 71.3% of the 1,084 records in scope, making it by far the densest class. G01N (material analysis and testing) and G01B (length and dimension measurement) follow at 25.8% and 19.4% respectively. Application-adjacent classes such as semiconductor devices (H01L) and information storage (G11B) each sit under 7%, indicating much lighter claim coverage there.
The composition data points to semiconductor-process integration (H01L), electric and magnetic measurement coupling (G01R), magnetic-storage applications (G11B) and nanotechnology-specific coatings (B82Y) as branches with comparatively low IPC density relative to the core G01Q metrology class. Each sits between roughly 5.8% and 6.8% of the 1,084 records, versus 71.3% for the core class. A first claim in one of these adjacent areas would face less prior art density than a new filing squarely in scanning-probe measurement itself.
US6249000B1, filed by Seiko Instruments and granted in 2001, describes a scanning probe microscope architecture using two cantilevers with different resonance frequencies, where a sensor cantilever detects displacement of the primary probe cantilever during scanning. It is an early, foundational architecture patent rather than a narrow feature claim. Designs relying on a dual-cantilever, differential-resonance detection scheme should review this filing closely, though its age means many jurisdictions' standard patent terms may have expired or be near expiry — verify current legal status before assuming it blocks a new design.
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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.