Single-Photon Detector Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
- Filing has cooled since its 2018 peak. 16 families published that year against a flat-to-declining midpoint of 8 in 2022, with the most recent year still filling in as publications lag filing.
- Semiconductor and radiometric claims dominate over imaging. H01L and G01J each cover roughly half the corpus (57 and 55 of 105 families), while H04N pictorial-communication claims sit at 28 — a narrower slice than the sensor and detection layers beneath it.
- The United States receives more than half of all filings. 56 of the tracked records were filed at the USPTO, more than triple the EPO count of 18, concentrating the enforceable claim space in one jurisdiction.
What this landscape covers
Single-photon detector patents span the diode physics of the single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD), the Geiger-mode circuitry that arms and quenches it, and the downstream photon-counting and time-of-flight logic that turns a single click into a usable signal. This landscape tracks 105 patent families published between 2015 and 2026 under IPC classes covering semiconductor photodetectors, radiation measurement and pictorial communication sensors, reflecting how the same avalanche-diode core is claimed differently depending on whether the applicant is protecting the device, the timing electronics, or the imaging array built on top of it.
Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the most recent filing year in any trend chart undercounts real activity; treat the last one to two years as a floor, not a ceiling.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 105-family corpus: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how those families split across the IPC subclasses that define device, measurement and imaging claims.
A 2018 peak followed by a flat-to-declining plateau
Filings rose to 16 in 2018 from 5 in 2017, then settled near a midpoint of 8 by 2022. That pattern reads less like a technology in early growth and more like a claim space that filled quickly and has since seen incremental rather than accelerating activity.
Semiconductor and measurement classes carry the corpus
H01L (semiconductor devices) and G01J (radiation and light measurement) each appear in roughly half the families, with G01S (radar, sonar and positioning) and H04N (pictorial communication) both at 28 — evidence that time-of-flight ranging and imaging are treated as downstream applications of a shared detector core rather than separately dominant claim territories.
Shares are the percentage of the 105 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Single-Photon Detector Technology Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about single-photon detector technology landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe prior art shaping this space
US10312275B2 — Single-photon avalanche diode image sensor with photon counting and time-of-flight detection capabilities
A back side illuminated image sensor may operate using the single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) concept in a Geiger mode of operation for single photon detection. The image sensor may be implemented using two layer stacking with a silicon on insulator (SOI) chip. The chip-to-chip electrical connections between the top level image sensing chip and the second level ASIC circuit chip may be realized at each pixel with a single bump connection per pixel. A light level signal may be obtained from pixels that have photon counting capabilities while a distance measurement signal for 3-dimensional imaging may be obtained from pixels that have time-of-flight (ToF) detection capabilities.Assigned to Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC; published 2019-06-04.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20130300838A1 | Methods and devices for generating a representation of a 3D scene at very high speed | 247 |
| 2 | US20180209846A1 | SPAD Detector Having Modulated Sensitivity | 145 |
| 3 | US20150115131A1 | Stacked chip SPAD image sensor | 132 |
| 4 | US9516244B2 | Methods and devices for generating a representation of a 3D scene at very high speed | 128 |
| 5 | US20140217264A1 | Systems and methods for imaging using single photon avalanche diodes | 104 |
| 6 | US9831283B2 | Systems and methods for imaging using single photon avalanche diodes | 66 |
| 7 | EP2469301A1 | Methods and devices for generating a representation of a 3D scene at very high speed | 56 |
| 8 | US9299732B2 | Stacked chip SPAD image sensor | 53 |
| 9 | US20190302242A1 | Active Quenching For Single-Photon Avalanche Diode Using One-Shot Circuit | 49 |
| 10 | US9728659B2 | SPAD device with radiation blocking rings and vias and related arrays and methods | 41 |
Citation counts are drawn from within this searched corpus and skew toward older filings; use them as a signal of influence on subsequent claim drafting, not as a marker of present-day relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once the corpus is broken down by year, geography and citation weight.
Growth has flattened, not accelerated
The corpus peaked at 16 published families in 2018 and had settled to a midpoint of 8 by 2022. Combined with the 18-month publication lag, this points to a technology whose core claim space filled early rather than one still in an expansion phase.
The US is the primary enforcement venue
More than half of all tracked filings went through the USPTO, with the EPO a distant second at 18 and China at 14. Freedom-to-operate work should weight US prosecution history heavily before assuming European or Chinese equivalents exist.
Device and measurement claims outweigh imaging claims
H01L (semiconductor devices) and G01J (radiation and light measurement) each sit near half the corpus, ahead of H04N (pictorial communication) at 28. Detector-level physics is more heavily claimed than the imaging systems built on top of it.
A handful of early filings anchor the field
The most-cited records date to the early-to-mid 2010s and concern 3D scene generation and stacked-chip SPAD imaging. Their high citation counts reflect age and foundational status within this corpus rather than current filing activity.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to single-photon detector technology landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where momentum has stalled
Co-assignee pairings are sparse in this corpus — only 8 pairs total — and the strongest links reflect research-institute and industrial-partner arrangements rather than broad alliance networks. Several previously active assignees show zero filings in the most recent tracked year, consistent with the overall plateau.
Politecnico di Milano and Micro Photon Devices
The strongest co-assignee link in the dataset pairs Politecnico di Milano with Micro Photon Devices at 5 joint filings, an academic-to-spinout pattern typical of SPAD research groups commercializing detector modules.
Multiple established filers have gone quiet
AMS, the Australian federal government, EPFL, Apple, Politecnico di Milano and STMicroelectronics R&D all show zero filings in the latest tracked year, with Apple recording a full -100% year-over-year drop. This is consistent with the broader flat-to-declining trend rather than isolated to one company.
MIT appears at the edge of the collaboration network
MIT's single recorded co-filing, with an individual inventor, signals early-stage or narrowly scoped academic work rather than an established industrial partnership — worth tracking for future spinout activity rather than current claim density.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| ams AG | 0 | — |
| Commonwealth of Australia | 0 | — |
| École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) | 0 | — |
| Apple Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Politecnico di Milano | 0 | — |
| STMicroelectronics R&D Ltd. | 0 | — |
| STMicroelectronics (Grenoble 2) SAS | 0 | — |
| Micro Photon Devices S.r.l. | 0 | — |
Where to take this
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, portfolio strategy, or identifying open claim territory.
Map claims against the anchor patents
Before drafting in the SPAD imaging space, check claim scope against the most-cited records in this corpus — several date to the early 2010s and still anchor downstream 3D-imaging and stacked-chip designs.
Explore prior art in EurekaWatch for renewed filing from quiet assignees
Several major filers show zero activity in the latest tracked year. A renewed filing from any of them, once publication lag clears, would be an early signal worth monitoring.
Track assignee activity in EurekaTest the under-claimed branches
AI-assisted readout and non-silicon material stacks show thinner claim density than the core diode and Geiger-mode circuitry. A first-filer advantage may still be available there.
Run a white-space search in EurekaCommon questions about single-photon detector patents
A SPAD patent generally claims either the diode structure itself (doping profile, junction geometry, or back-side illumination architecture) or the Geiger-mode operating circuitry that arms and quenches the avalanche after a single photon triggers it. In this corpus, semiconductor-device claims under IPC class H01L appear in over half of the 105 tracked families, making device-level structure the most heavily claimed layer. Downstream claims covering photon counting, time-of-flight ranging, or full imaging arrays are usually filed separately and build on the underlying diode patent rather than replacing it.
The tracked corpus peaked at 16 published families in 2018 and had fallen to a midpoint of 8 by 2022, a flat-to-declining pattern rather than continued growth. This can reflect the core diode and Geiger-mode circuitry claim space filling early, pushing new applicants toward adjacent territory like AI-assisted readout or non-silicon materials instead of re-claiming the same device physics. It is also worth noting that publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent one to two years in any such chart will always look lower than actual filing activity turns out to be.
The United States is the dominant receiving office in this space, accounting for 56 of the 105 tracked filings, more than three times the next largest office (EPO, 18) and four times China (14). A freedom-to-operate review that only checks European or Chinese filings will miss most of the enforceable claim history. That said, the 10 PCT/WIPO filings in the corpus suggest a meaningful minority of applicants are still deciding on national phase entry, so those should be watched rather than ignored.
US10312275B2, assigned to Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC and published in 2019, claims a back-side-illuminated SPAD image sensor built from two stacked chips connected by a single bump per pixel, with pixels supporting both photon counting and time-of-flight detection. Anyone designing a stacked-chip SPAD sensor with per-pixel bump connections and dual-mode (intensity plus distance) pixel outputs should review this filing's claim scope closely, since it covers a specific structural combination rather than SPAD imaging in the abstract. Designs that avoid the two-layer SOI bump-bonded architecture, or that separate photon-counting and time-of-flight functions onto different pixel populations, sit further from this claim.
The clearest gaps relative to the dense H01L and G01J core are in AI-assisted photon-counting readout, dark-count suppression circuitry, non-silicon SPAD material stacks, and pulse-shaping logic for Geiger-mode arming — all represented by only a handful of families each against IPC classes like G06N and H03K. These branches sit adjacent to a heavily claimed core rather than being unclaimed territory outright, so a first claim there should tie the novel element (an AI model, a new material stack, a specific pulse-shaping circuit) directly to the SPAD detection context rather than claiming it generically.
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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.