Silicon Wafer Patents: Who Leads, Where Filings Cooled 2026
- Filing has cooled, not grown. activity peaked in 2018 at 15 filings and has since drifted down toward single digits, with the most recent full year sitting well below the midpoint.
- Claims cluster tightly around two IPC classes. H01L (132 records) and C30B (88 records) between them cover most of the corpus, meaning grinding and polishing under B24B (29 records) carries comparatively thin coverage.
- The most-cited prior art is two decades old. the top-cited record, US6336968B1 on non-oxygen precipitating Czochralski wafers, still sits above every recent filing in citation count — a sign the foundational claims were staked early and rarely re-litigated.
Filing growth compares 2021 (10 records) with 2024 (3) — 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 176 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks 176 patent families filed against silicon wafer manufacturing between 2015 and mid-2026, drawn from documents that combine Czochralski crystal growth, wafer slicing and surface-finishing terms with claims touching crystal defect control, oxygen concentration, flatness, edge profile or polishing. The IPC scope spans C30B15 (crystal growth), H01L21 (semiconductor device processing) and B24B37 (grinding and polishing), which is why the composition skews so heavily toward growth and device-processing classes rather than pure mechanical finishing.
Filing counts for the most recent year are necessarily incomplete: publication typically lags the underlying filing by around eighteen months, so 2025 and 2026 will fill in further as records publish. The decline visible from the 2018 peak through the 2022 midpoint is real, but the very last data points should be read as a floor, not a final count.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 176-family corpus: filings by year, and where those filings sit across the IPC classes that define the search.
A peak already behind the field
Filings rose from 9 in 2017 to a peak of 15 in 2018, then eased back to roughly 4 by the 2022 midpoint and continued lower toward the most recent partial year. That shape reads as a maturing claim space rather than a growing one — the foundational mechanics of crystal growth and wafer finishing were staked out early in the window, and later years show fewer net-new filers rather than a wave of new entrants.
Growth and device processing dominate
H01L (132 records) and C30B (88 records) anchor the corpus, consistent with a search built around Czochralski growth and semiconductor device processing. B24B grinding and polishing (29), C23C coating (15) and G01N testing (13) are present but comparatively thin, suggesting the mechanical finishing and inspection steps around the core crystal-growth claims are less densely claimed than the growth step itself.
Shares are the percentage of the 176 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Silicon Wafer Manufacturing with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about silicon wafer manufacturing and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe prior art still doing the most work
Silicon wafer manufacturing method (Shin-Etsu Handotai, 2024)
The method grinds front and back wafer surfaces to a specified arithmetic surface roughness, then applies isotropic whole-surface dry-etching to remove the mechanically damaged layer left by grinding, followed by a bounded double-side polishing step with a defined stock-removal limit per surface.Filed as US20240203745A1 by SHIN-ETSU HANDOTAI CO., LTD., published 2024-06-20.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6336968B1 | Non-oxygen precipitating czochralski silicon wafers | 76 |
| 2 | US5474020A | Oxygen precipitation control in czochralski-grown silicon cyrstals | 69 |
| 3 | JP1998275905A | Silicon wafer manufacturing method and silicon wafer | 56 |
| 4 | US5795381A | SIO probe for real-time monitoring and control of oxygen during czochralski growth of single crystal silicon | 53 |
| 5 | US5744401A | Silicon wafer manufacturing method eliminating final mirror-polishing step | 49 |
| 6 | US6277501B1 | Silicon epitaxial wafer and method for manufacturing the same | 46 |
| 7 | US5329733A | Wafer slicing and grinding machine and a method of slicing and grinding wafers | 33 |
| 8 | US20170018457A1 | Semiconductor Device Comprising an Oxygen Diffusion Barrier and Manufacturing Method | 31 |
| 9 | JP2007208060A | Silicon wafer, manufacturing method therefor, and silicon block | 27 |
| 10 | JP1998144698A | Silicon wafer and its manufacture | 26 |
Citation counts favour older records simply because they have had longer to accumulate citations inside this corpus — read them as markers of influence on later filings, not as current state of the art.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for filing strategy
Four read-outs from the trend, composition and citation data that matter more than the raw counts on their own.
The wave has passed, publication lag aside
Even allowing for the roughly 18-month gap between filing and publication, the drop from the 2018 peak through the 2022 midpoint to the latest count is too steep to be lag alone. New entrants are filing less often than they were a decade ago.
Growth and device-processing claims dominate
Two IPC classes account for the bulk of the corpus. Anyone filing new crystal-growth or device-processing claims should expect dense prior art; anyone filing on the mechanical finishing side has more room.
Filing is concentrated across three offices, not one
The United States leads with 46 filings, but China and the EPO each sit close behind at 31. Japan (23) and South Korea (13) round out a genuinely multi-jurisdictional filing pattern rather than a single home market.
The oldest claims still carry the most weight
The most-cited record in the corpus addresses non-oxygen precipitating Czochralski wafers and predates most of the filing window. Oxygen-concentration control remains a reference point that later filings are measured against.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to silicon wafer manufacturing, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the ground, and who has stopped filing
Recent-year momentum tells a different story from cumulative counts: the assignees most associated with this space show no filings in the latest tracked year, which either reflects publication lag or a genuine pause in new claims.
No tracked leader shows recent-year activity
SUMCO, SunEdison, Shin-Etsu Handotai, GlobalWafers Japan, Texas Instruments and IBM all show zero filings in the latest tracked year, with GlobalWafers Japan down 100% year-on-year. This is consistent with publication lag but also with a genuinely quieter filing period across the field's established names.
Co-filing is rare and mostly internal
Only four co-assignee pairs appear in the corpus, the strongest linking IBM's corporate entity to its own French IP department, and two others linking Shin-Etsu Handotai to individual named inventors. This is a field of solo filers more than joint ventures.
Established players file broadly, not just at home
The spread across six receiving offices, with the US, China and the EPO each drawing double-digit filings, indicates the assignees active here treat this as a global claim space rather than a single-market one.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| SUMCO Corporation | 0 | — |
| SunEdison, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Shin-Etsu Handotai Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| GlobalWafers Japan Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| Texas Instruments Incorporated | 0 | — |
| International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) | 0 | — |
| Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Siltronic AG | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The trend and composition data point to specific next questions for anyone deciding where to file or where to license.
Test a claim against the dense classes
Before drafting in H01L or C30B, run the proposed claim language against the most-cited prior art in those classes to see how much room actually remains.
Explore claim mapping in EurekaWatch for the lag catching up
The apparent drop-off after 2022 will partially fill in as 2025-2026 filings publish. Re-check assignee momentum in a few months rather than treating the current gap as final.
Track filing trends in EurekaLook at the under-claimed finishing steps
B24B, C23C and G01N together carry far fewer records than the growth classes, which is where a narrower first-filing claim is more likely to clear prior art.
Run a white space search in EurekaCommon questions about silicon wafer manufacturing patents
The most-cited record in this corpus is US6336968B1, covering non-oxygen precipitating Czochralski silicon wafers, followed closely by US5474020A on oxygen precipitation control in Czochralski-grown crystals. Both are older filings that continue to accumulate citations, which signals lasting influence on how later filers frame oxygen-concentration claims. Current top assignees by filing volume include SUMCO, SunEdison, Shin-Etsu Handotai and GlobalWafers Japan, though recent-year data shows all of them with no filings in the latest tracked year.
Filings peaked at 15 in 2018 and eased toward roughly 4 by 2022, continuing lower afterward. Part of that drop is an artefact of publication lag, since patents typically publish around 18 months after filing, so the most recent years are undercounted. But the decline starts well before the lag window, suggesting the field's core mechanics — Czochralski growth control, oxygen concentration, edge profile and flatness — were substantially claimed earlier in the period, leaving less open ground for new filings.
H01L (semiconductor devices) and C30B (crystal growth) dominate the corpus with 132 and 88 records respectively, reflecting the search's focus on Czochralski growth and downstream device processing. B24B grinding and polishing, C23C coating, and G01N testing all carry noticeably fewer records, which points to comparatively lighter claim density in the mechanical finishing and inspection steps around the core growth process.
This 2024 Shin-Etsu Handotai filing describes a wafer manufacturing sequence combining a grinding step to a specified surface roughness, an isotropic dry-etching step to remove the mechanically damaged layer left by grinding, and a double-side polishing step with a bounded stock-removal limit per surface. The claim value sits in the specific combination and the numeric bounds on roughness, etch removal and polishing stock removal, rather than in any one step alone, since grinding, etching and polishing are each individually well known.
Based on IPC density, the mechanical finishing and inspection classes — B24B polishing and grinding, C23C coating-based defect suppression, and G01N in-line testing — carry noticeably fewer records than the crystal-growth and device-processing classes. Specific sub-areas such as dry-etch damage-layer removal following grinding, edge-profile control on larger-diameter wafers, and in-line oxygen sensing during growth show less filing density and are worth checking against prior art before committing to a broader claim in H01L or C30B.
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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.