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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/thick-film-resistor-and-conductor-pastes-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Thick Film Resistor & Conductor PastesThick film resistor and conductor paste patents: where filings concentrate and where they thin out
- 29.9% sits with five assignees. The top five combined hold 914 of the 3,060 records in scope, a concentration that shapes freedom-to-operate for anyone entering fresh.
- Filings are still building, not fading. From 13 filings in 2021 to 19 in 2024, a +46% rise over that three-year span, even as 2025-2026 numbers look thin because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months.
- Resistor and circuit classes dominate the mix. H01C (resistors) covers 52.8% of records and H05K (printed circuits) 26.7%, while ceramics and glass composition classes stay in single digits — a sign of where claim space is still open.
3,060
Published Records
30%
Top-5 Share of All Records
+46%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
JP
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (13 records) with 2024 (19) — 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 3,060 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What this dataset covers
This landscape draws on 3,060 published records matching thick film resistor and conductor paste terminology together with process and performance language such as sheet resistance, temperature coefficient, laser trimming and firing profile. The scope spans 2015 to mid-2026, capturing both the compositional chemistry (ruthenium oxide resistor systems, glass frit formulations) and the process controls (trimming, termination compatibility, noise index) that determine whether a paste is viable at production scale.
The filing footprint is led by Japanese and US receiving offices, reflecting where hybrid IC and passive-component manufacturing has concentrated historically. The technology composition points to a field still anchored in resistor and circuit-assembly classifications, with adjacent glass, ceramic and semiconductor classes present but comparatively lightly claimed.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2015-2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Thick Film Resistor and Conductor Pastes covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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The numbers
Filing trend and technology mix
Two views of the same 3,060-record dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings ran from 26 in 2017 to a peak of 48 in 2019, then settled into a lower but rising band: 13 in 2021 climbing to 19 in 2024, a +46% increase over that span. The 2025 and 2026 figures understate real activity because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months.
IPC subclass composition
H01C (resistors) appears on 52.8% of the 3,060 records and H05K (printed circuits & assemblies) on 26.7%, confirming this is primarily a resistor-and-assembly field. H01B, H01L, C03C, C04B, H10D and G01L each appear on a smaller share, and because records can carry multiple classes these shares add up to more than 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 3,060 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Thick Film Resistor and Conductor Pastes covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
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Representative and most-cited filings
Representative filing
US5016089A — Substrate for hybrid IC, hybrid IC using the substrate and its applications
HITACHI, LTD., A CORP. OF JAPAN
A substrate for a hybrid IC comprises a substrate, a thick film resistor containing glass formed on the substrate, and a thick film conductor at the terminal of the thick film resistor. A means for preventing diffusion of the glass from the resistor into the conductor is provided — either a compound added to the resistor paste or a metallic-powder paste applied to the conductor terminal. The result is a thick film conductor with stable resistance suitable for uses including cellular radio communications equipment.Filed by Hitachi, granted 1991 — illustrates the termination-compatibility problem that recurs throughout later filings in this dataset.
Most-cited records in scope
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US8192651B2 | Aluminum thick film composition(s), electrode(s), semiconductor device(s), and methods of making thereof | 1,006 |
| 2 | US5700695A | Sample collection and manipulation method | 672 |
| 3 | US4849611A | Self-regulating heater employing reactive components | 514 |
| 4 | US20030175411A1 | Precursor compositions and methods for the deposition of passive electrical components on a substrate | 339 |
| 5 | US20030108664A1 | Methods and compositions for the formation of recessed electrical features on a substrate | 337 |
| 6 | US5861903A | Ink feed system | 299 |
| 7 | US6951666B2 | Precursor compositions for the deposition of electrically conductive features | 235 |
| 8 | US20030124259A1 | Precursor compositions for the deposition of electrically conductive features | 218 |
| 9 | US5378408A | Lead-free thick film paste composition | 205 |
| 10 | US4967201A | Multi-layer single substrate microwave transmit/receive module | 198 |
Citation counts favour older filings simply because they have had longer to accumulate them; read this as a map of influential prior art, not a ranking of current relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Thick Film Resistor and Conductor Pastes covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the data says about this field
Three patterns stand out once filing volume, technology mix and citation weight are laid side by side.
Concentration
29.9% of 3,060
held by top 5 assignees
Filing activity sits with a small group, not a long tail alone
The five leading assignees combined account for 914 of the 3,060 records in scope, and the top ten reach 40.9% (1,251 records). That leaves a substantial share of the field held by the remaining 90 ranked companies plus unranked filers, so the picture is concentration at the top with real depth below it.
Assignee ranking, 100 companies
Momentum
+46%
2021 to 2024 filings
Recent growth is real, even if the last two years look quiet
Filings rose from 13 in 2021 to 19 in 2024. The apparent drop-off after that is a publication-lag artefact — records from 2025 and 2026 are still being published — not evidence that interest has cooled.
2017-2026 filing trend
Technology mix
52.8%
of records carry H01C
Resistor classification dominates, circuit assembly is a strong second
H01C (resistors) and H05K (printed circuits & assemblies) together frame most of the activity, at 52.8% and 26.7% of records respectively. Glass and ceramic composition classes (C03C, C04B) sit in single digits, which is where the compositional chemistry work is comparatively less crowded.
IPC subclass composition, 8 classes shown
Citation weight
1,006 citations
on the leading cited record
The oldest heavily-cited filings define the prior-art baseline
The most-cited record in scope, on an aluminum thick film composition, has accumulated 1,006 citations. High citation counts here mark foundational prior art that later filers had to design around, not current market weight.
Most-cited records table
Eureka AI Agent
Looking for what nobody has claimed yet?
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to thick film resistor and conductor pastes, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Thick Film Resistor and Conductor Pastes covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Players
Who is filing, and where activity is thinning
The assignee ranking covers 100 companies drawn from the full 3,060-record set. Recent-year momentum figures show several of the historically largest filers with no new publications in the latest year — consistent with the publication-lag effect rather than a sign these programmes have stopped.
Leader
316 records
leading assignee
A single filer holds the largest share by a wide margin
The leading assignee's 316 records dwarf the fifth-place total of 114 and the tenth-place total of 49, meaning the drop-off from first to fifth is steep before the ranking flattens into a longer tail.
Assignee ranking
Co-filing
10 pairs
co-assignee pairs identified
Co-assignment is limited and concentrated around a few named inventors
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, with the strongest pairing recorded 10 times. This points to filing that is mostly single-assignee rather than joint-venture driven.
Co-assignee pairs
Receiving offices
1,319 filings
at the Japan office
Filing activity is heaviest in Japan, then the US
Japan accounts for 1,319 filings, ahead of the United States at 686, Europe (EPO) at 430, WIPO/PCT at 112, the United Kingdom at 102 and Canada at 95 — a footprint consistent with where hybrid-IC and passive-component manufacturing is concentrated.
Receiving office breakdown
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company | 0 | — |
| Panasonic Holdings Corporation | 0 | — |
| Hitachi, Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Shoei Chemical Inc. | 0 | — |
| CTS Corporation | 0 | — |
| Mitsubishi Electric Corporation | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Thick Film Resistor and Conductor Pastes covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's next
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, whitespace scouting or monitoring a named competitor.
Check freedom-to-operate against the leading assignee
With 316 records concentrated in one filer, any new termination-compatibility or firing-profile claim should be checked against that portfolio before drafting.
Run a clearance search in Eureka →Scope a first claim in an under-claimed branch
Ceramic and glass composition classes carry single-digit shares of the 3,060 records, leaving room for a narrowly drawn composition or process claim.
Draft claim language in Eureka →Track momentum past the publication-lag window
The 2025-2026 filing counts will keep rising as records publish; re-checking the trend in six months will show whether the 2021-2024 growth continued.
Set a monitoring alert in Eureka →Source: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Thick Film Resistor and Conductor Pastes covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions about this landscape
The assignee ranking covers 100 companies drawn from 3,060 records, and one company leads with 316 records, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 114 and tenth place at 49. The top five combined account for 29.9% of all records in scope, and the top ten for 40.9%. That leaves a meaningful share of filings spread across dozens of smaller filers, so the field is concentrated at the top but not dominated by a single player.
Filings rose from 13 in 2021 to 19 in 2024, a +46% increase over that three-year span, which is the clearest recent signal in the data. The counts for 2025 and 2026 look lower, but that reflects publication lag of roughly 18 months rather than a real decline, since not all filings from those years have published yet. Treat the 2019 peak of 48 filings as historical context rather than a ceiling being retested.
H01C, the resistor classification, appears on 52.8% of the 3,060 records, making it the dominant category by a wide margin. H05K, covering printed circuits and assemblies, follows at 26.7%. Classes tied to underlying materials — glass and enamel compositions (C03C) and ceramics (C04B) — sit in single-digit shares, which is where compositional claim space looks comparatively less occupied.
US5016089A, assigned to Hitachi and granted in 1991, covers a hybrid IC substrate with a thick film resistor and a thick film conductor at its terminal, plus a means of preventing glass diffusion from the resistor into the conductor. The diffusion-barrier mechanism — either an additive in the resistor paste or a metallic-powder paste at the terminal — is the specific technical contribution. New filings that use a different mechanism to solve termination compatibility, or that apply the same mechanism outside a hybrid IC substrate context, would sit outside its literal claim scope, though a freedom-to-operate check should confirm claim wording directly.
The clearest gaps sit in classes with low record share relative to the dominant resistor and circuit-assembly classes: glass and enamel composition (C03C, 7.5% of records) and ceramics (C04B, 5.7%) are both far behind H01C and H05K. Combined with the concentration of filings among a handful of leading assignees in the core resistor category, this suggests more room to file a distinct composition or process claim in the materials-chemistry side of the field than in resistor architecture itself.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Thick Film Resistor and Conductor Pastes covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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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.