Semiconductor Photoresist Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Filing has cooled since its 2021 peak. 251 families in 2021 against 175 at the 2022 midpoint and a partial 14 in the most recent year — publication lag explains part of the drop, but the trend line was already flattening before that.
- The claim space is polymer-heavy, not just optics-heavy. C08F addition-polymer filings (1,897) and C07C acyclic/carbocyclic compounds (962) sit right behind the core G03F photolithography class (6,474), showing the fight is as much about resist chemistry as exposure method.
- Momentum has stalled across nearly every major holder. Recent-year filings from the largest assignees are down sharply or at zero, including a -100% YoY drop from several long-standing resist chemistry holders — a sign the field is consolidating around existing claims rather than expanding.
Filing growth compares 2021 (251 records) with 2024 (182) — 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 6,564 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Semiconductor photoresist patents span the chemistry that makes lithography work: photoacid generators, resist polymers, underlayer materials and the acid-labile pendant groups that control resolution once light or EUV radiation hits the film. This dataset pulls 6,564 patent families filed between 2015 and mid-2026 across offices including the United States, South Korea, the EPO, Japan and China, filtered to records that combine photoresist terminology with IPC classes covering photolithography (G03F) and addition polymers (C08F). Family counts, not raw document counts, are used throughout so that multi-jurisdiction filing strategies do not distort the picture.
The mix of receiving offices — led by the United States and South Korea, with Europe, Japan and China close behind — reflects where photoresist R&D and fab capacity are concentrated, rather than where any single company is headquartered.
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how the underlying IPC classes divide the field between exposure/lithography claims and resist chemistry claims.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Annual family counts rise from 110 in 2017 to a peak of 251 in 2021, sit at 175 by the 2022 midpoint, and taper toward a partial 14 in the most recent year. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the last one to two years will fill in further as records are published — the plateau after 2021 is the more reliable signal than the sharp final-year drop.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
G03F (photolithography and photomechanics) covers almost the entire corpus at 6,474 records, confirming the search scope. Beneath it, H01L (semiconductor devices, 2,522), C08F (addition polymers, 1,897) and C07C (acyclic/carbocyclic compounds, 962) show that a large share of the claim activity is really about resist material chemistry — polymers, photoacid generators and their precursor compounds — rather than device architecture or exposure tooling alone.
Shares are the percentage of the 6,564 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Semiconductor Photoresist Advanced Materials with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about semiconductor photoresist advanced materials and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records and a recent filing
Photoacid generator, preparation method therefor, and photoresist composition comprising photoacid generator
The present disclosure relates to a photoacid generator, a preparation method therefor, and a photoresist composition comprising the photoacid generator. The photoacid generator has a structure represented by formula (I). The photoacid generator can be used together with a strongly acidic sulfonium salt photoacid generator to improve resolution and contrast of a lithographic pattern.Filed by TIENMICRO (SHANDONG) CO., LTD. and published 2026-07-02, this is one of the most recent records in the dataset and illustrates that new entrants are still filing on photoacid generator chemistry even as overall volume from established holders slows.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JP1989105238A | Photopolymerizable mixture and photopolymerizable material | 829 |
| 2 | US20110117490A1 | Methods of forming electronic devices | 539 |
| 3 | WO1997033198A1 | Photoresist compositions comprising polycyclic polymers with acid labile pendant groups | 534 |
| 4 | US6225020B1 | Polymer and a forming method of a micro pattern using the same | 525 |
| 5 | JP1988026653A | Photoresist material | 508 |
| 6 | US20130052585A1 | Photodecomposable bases and photoresist compositions | 492 |
| 7 | US6589707B2 | Partially crosslinked polymer for bilayer photoresist | 490 |
| 8 | US6316162B1 | Polymer and a forming method of a micro pattern using the same | 482 |
| 9 | US6368773B1 | Photoresist cross-linker and photoresist composition comprising the same | 474 |
| 10 | US6569971B2 | Polymers for photoresist and photoresist compositions using the same | 474 |
Citation counts accumulate over time, so older records — several from the late 1980s and the 1997 acid-labile pendant group filing — dominate this list. Treat high citation counts as a marker of historical influence on later resist chemistry, not as a signal that a record is currently the strongest asset to design around.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Put your own technology through the same analysis
Eureka on the web
When you want the answer in the next five minutes.
The agent works the prompt against patents and technical literature, citing every source.
Run your analysis now →MCP server & REST API
When it has to run inside your own pipeline.
Patent search, landscape analysis and assignee resolution as MCP tools. Drop them into any agent framework, or call REST directly.
Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Read together, the trend line, the IPC split and the citation table point to a field where the core photoacid generator and resist polymer chemistry is heavily claimed, and where the open ground is in adjacent classes rather than in the crowded center.
Growth has flattened since 2021
Annual filings peaked at 251 in 2021 and had fallen to a partial 14 by the most recent year. Some of that drop is publication lag, but the plateau at the 2022 midpoint (175) shows the slowdown started before the most recent data cut.
Resist chemistry is a distinct claim front
Nearly 1,900 records sit in C08F addition polymers and another 962 in C07C compounds, alongside the dominant G03F lithography class. New entrants can compete on polymer backbone and photoacid generator chemistry without touching the most crowded exposure-method claims.
Established holders have slowed or stopped filing
Several long-standing assignees show zero filings in the most recent year, some down -100% year over year. That pattern is consistent with a maturing claim landscape where core positions are already staked, rather than with declining interest in the technology itself.
Co-filing is concentrated, not widespread
Only ten co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, and the strongest of them links two materials suppliers at 47 joint families. Most photoresist patenting in this set is filed by a single assignee acting alone.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to semiconductor photoresist advanced materials, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the ground, and where it is thin
Filing volume concentrates among a handful of materials and semiconductor manufacturers, several of which show sharp recent-year slowdowns. The gaps sit in specific chemistry sub-branches rather than in the dataset's core classes.
Even the active filers are pulling back
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company recorded just 3 families in the most recent year, down 67% year over year — still the most active of the tracked assignees in that period, but at a fraction of prior volume.
Materials suppliers co-file more than device makers
The strongest co-assignee relationship in the dataset links two electronic-materials suppliers at 47 shared families, well ahead of the next-strongest pair. Joint filing here tends to pair a resist chemistry specialist with a formulation or applications partner.
Several historic leaders have gone quiet
More than one assignee with a substantial historical footprint — including major materials and chip manufacturers — shows zero recorded filings in the most recent year. That does not necessarily mean exit; it is as likely to reflect portfolio consolidation or a shift to trade secrecy for newer formulations.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) | 3 | -67% |
| Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials LLC | 0 | -100% |
| International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) | 0 | -100% |
| Shirai Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| SK Hynix Inc. | 0 | — |
| Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (Korea) | 0 | -100% |
| Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
Where to take this
The trend and assignee data point to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, portfolio strategy, or spotting an entry point.
Check freedom-to-operate against the citation leaders
The most-cited records in this dataset, several dating to the late 1980s and 1997, still anchor foundational claims on acid-labile pendant groups and polymer resist chemistry. Any new resist formulation should be checked against these before filing.
Run a freedom-to-operate searchTrack the slowdown at incumbent holders
Multiple top assignees show flat or -100% year-over-year filing. Watching whether that reflects consolidation, trade-secret shift, or genuine exit will shape how much white space is really available.
Monitor assignee activityExplore the under-claimed chemistry branches
C07D heterocyclic compounds and C08G condensation polymers show materially lower filing density than the core C08F and G03F classes. These are reasonable starting points for a first claim.
Explore white space with EurekaCommon questions on semiconductor photoresist patents
Filing in this space is led by a mix of electronic materials suppliers and semiconductor manufacturers, including firms with large legacy portfolios in resist polymers and photoacid generators. Several of the historically largest filers, however, show zero or sharply reduced filings in the most recent year, which suggests the ranking by cumulative volume no longer matches current filing activity. Anyone assessing competitive position should weight recent-year momentum, not just total family count, since a company's cumulative lead can mask a recent pullback.
Annual filings peaked at 251 families in 2021, held near 175 at the 2022 midpoint, and dropped toward a partial 14 in the most recent year in this dataset. Part of that final drop is a publication lag artifact: patent applications typically publish around 18 months after filing, so the most recent one to two years are always undercounted at any data cut-off. That said, the plateau that set in after 2021, well before the most recent partial year, points to a genuine slowdown rather than pure lag.
The core of this landscape sits in IPC class G03F, covering photolithography and photomechanical processes, which accounts for nearly the entire dataset. Beneath that, a large share of filings also touch C08F addition polymers and C07C acyclic and carbocyclic compounds, reflecting patents on the resist polymer backbones and precursor chemistry rather than the exposure process itself. Smaller but still meaningful activity appears in C07D heterocyclic compounds, C08L polymer compositions, and C08G condensation polymers, which is where several under-claimed sub-areas sit.
Based on IPC composition, the branches with comparatively thin filing density relative to the core G03F and C08F classes include heterocyclic resist stabilizer compounds (C07D), condensation-polymer resist binders (C08G), and non-sulfonium photoacid generator backbones. These sit adjacent to the densest claim territory rather than outside it, which usually means faster examination against a smaller prior-art set, but still requires a freedom-to-operate check against the foundational citation leaders before committing claim language.
Citation counts in this dataset are dominated by records from the late 1980s and 1997, which have simply had more time to accumulate citations from later filings. That makes them a good signal of historical influence on how resist chemistry developed, particularly around acid-labile pendant groups, but a poor signal of which claims matter most for a filing decision today. A recent filing with few citations can still be commercially and legally more relevant if it covers current formulation chemistry.
Research Semiconductor Photoresist Advanced Materials in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole semiconductor photoresist advanced materials corpus yourself, in your own scope.
Every answer comes back with patent numbers you can open.
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.