Thin Wafer Handling Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- 35.9% of all 92 records sit with just five assignees, but the ranked list runs to 55 companies — concentration at the top with a long tail below it.
- Filings grew 25% from 2021 to 2024, the last year the dataset treats as complete, after peaking at 11 records in 2019.
- H01L covers 75.0% of records while adjacent classes like B32B, C09J and C23C each sit under 7% — an indicator of where claim space is still thin.
Filing growth compares 2021 (4 records) with 2024 (5) — 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 92 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the patent record shows
Thin wafer handling covers the mechanics of moving, supporting and processing silicon wafers thin enough to bow, warp or crack under their own weight and under contact forces from belts, vacuum chucks and carriers. The 92 records in scope span filings from 2015 through the current data cut-off, concentrated overwhelmingly in H01L semiconductor device classifications, with smaller but persistent clusters in laminates, adhesives, coatings and measurement classes that support carrier and release-layer approaches.
Filing activity peaked in 2019 and has since settled into a lower but still-active band, with 2021-to-2024 growth of 25% suggesting renewed interest even as the field's biggest single-year peak sits several years back. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent one or two years in the trend understate real activity.
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 92 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings rose to a peak of 11 in 2019, cooled, then grew 25% from 2021 (4) to 2024 (5) — the last year the dataset treats as complete. 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in behind the publication lag.
IPC subclass composition
H01L (semiconductor devices) appears in 75.0% of the 92 records, with H10P present in 23.9%. Smaller shares in B32B, B08B, C08G, C09J, C23C and G01R (each 4.3%–6.5%) mark supporting materials and process classes rather than a second major cluster.
Shares are the percentage of the 92 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Thin Wafer Handling in Cell Production with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about thin wafer handling in cell production and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records and a representative filing
US8232140B2 — Method for ultra thin wafer handling and processing
A method for thin wafer handling and processing is provided. In one embodiment, the method comprises providing a wafer having a plurality of semiconductor chips, the wafer having a first side and a second side. A plurality of dies are attached to the first side of the wafer, at least one of the dies are bonded to at least one of the plurality of semiconductor chips. A wafer carrier is provided, wherein the wafer carrier is attached to the second side of the wafer. The first side of the wafer and the plurality of dies are encapsulated with a planar support layer.Filed by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd., this filing frames a carrier-attach-and-encapsulate sequence that recurs across later filings in the space.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US7100954B2 | Ultra-thin wafer handling system | 56 |
| 2 | US20050110291A1 | Ultra-thin wafer handling system | 37 |
| 3 | US20160023436A1 | Polyimides as laser release materials for 3-d IC applications | 32 |
| 4 | US20150194331A1 | Cyclic olefin polymer compositions and polysiloxane release layers for use in temporary wafer bonding process… | 29 |
| 5 | CN202601629U | 晶体硅太阳能电池 | 22 |
| 6 | CN201529636U | 硅片鼓泡清洗装置 | 20 |
| 7 | CN105215838A | 一种蓝宝石晶片的研磨装置及其研磨方法 | 19 |
| 8 | CN102623372A | 一种湿硅片自动分片装置 | 17 |
| 9 | CN114664720A | 晶圆校正系统及半导体工艺设备 | 14 |
| 10 | US20170040200A1 | Cyclic olefin polymer compositions and polysiloxane release layers for use in temporary wafer bonding process… | 14 |
Citation counts reward older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations inside the searched corpus; treat them as a signal of influence, not of which claims matter most today.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for filing strategy
Reading the concentration, class composition and citation pattern together points to where claim space is occupied and where it is not.
The top of the field is dense, the rest is thin
Five assignees hold 35.9% of all 92 records in scope, and the top 10 combined reach 46.7%. Below that the ranked list runs to 55 companies, most with only one or two filings — a long tail rather than a second concentration point.
Growth after a 2019 peak, not before it
The field peaked at 11 filings in 2019, then cooled before rebuilding: 2021 to 2024 growth reached 25%. Because 2025 and 2026 are still filling in behind the publication lag, that later dip should not be read as a slowdown yet.
One class dominates, several sit at the margin
H01L covers three-quarters of records, with H10P present in under a quarter. Laminates, adhesives, coatings and measurement classes each sit near 4-7%, which points to a field defined mainly by device-level claims rather than a wide spread of materials or process approaches.
China dominates the receiving-office mix
China accounts for 56 of the 92 records, well ahead of the United States at 17 and EPO at 8. WIPO PCT filings sit at 6, indicating that most applicants are not yet pursuing broad multi-jurisdiction protection for this specific technology.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to thin wafer handling in cell production, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gate sits
The leader holds 19 records, more than double the fifth-place assignee's 2 — a steep drop after the top position rather than a gradual taper.
A single leader well ahead of the field
The leading assignee holds 19 records against a fifth-place figure of just 2, meaning the gap between first and the rest of the top five is far larger than the gap within the top five itself.
A flat mid-field below the leader
Fifth place and tenth place both sit at 2 records, meaning the mid-field is flat rather than sloped — there is no clear second-tier leader distinguishing itself from the rest of the top ten.
Very little joint filing
Only two co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, both linking related corporate entities rather than independent partners, suggesting most patenting here happens within a single organisation rather than through joint development.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Brewer Science, Inc. | 0 | — |
| JA Solar Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Invensas Corporation | 0 | — |
| CSI Solar Power (Luoyang) Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Suzhou CSI Solar Power Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Baoding Baili Solar Photovoltaic Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Xiangneng Hualei Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Taijing Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, sourcing or R&D scoping.
Check freedom-to-operate against the leader's claims
With one assignee holding 19 records against a fifth-place count of 2, any new filing in this space should be checked against that leader's claim scope before development goes further.
Explore claims in Eureka →Scope the under-claimed branches
Vacuum contact control, microcrack monitoring and release-layer chemistry each carry far fewer filings than the core H01L cluster, making them candidates for faster, less-contested filing.
Map white space in Eureka →Track the post-2024 filing signal carefully
Because 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in behind the roughly 18-month publication lag, treat any apparent slowdown in those years as incomplete data rather than a real trend.
Monitor filing trends in Eureka →Common questions on thin wafer handling patents
One assignee leads with 19 of the 92 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-place assignee at just 2 records. The top 5 assignees combined hold 35.9% of all records, and the top 10 combined hold 46.7%, so the field is concentrated at the very top but has a long tail of 55 ranked companies below it, most with only one or two filings each. This pattern means a freedom-to-operate check should prioritise the leader's claims first, then spread checks thinly across the tail.
Filings peaked at 11 records in 2019, cooled afterward, then grew 25% from 2021 (4 records) to 2024 (5 records), which is the last year the dataset treats as complete. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures shown in any trend chart are still filling in and should not be read as a real decline. On the evidence available, the field is better described as rebuilding after its 2019 peak than as slowing down.
The dominant class is H01L, covering semiconductor devices, present in 75.0% of the 92 records in scope. H10P appears in 23.9% of records, and a set of smaller classes — B32B (laminates), B08B (cleaning), C08G (condensation polymers), C09J (adhesives), C23C (coatings) and G01R (measurement) — each sit between 4.3% and 6.5%. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100%, and the smaller classes point to supporting materials and process approaches rather than a second major technical cluster.
US8232140B2, assigned to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, describes a method that attaches dies to one side of a wafer, bonds a wafer carrier to the other side, encapsulates the die side with a planar support layer, and then removes the carrier before further processing. It is a representative filing in this space rather than the single most-cited one, and its value to a freedom-to-operate review lies in the specific carrier-attach-then-encapsulate sequence it claims. Anyone designing a similar carrier-and-release process should read its claims in full rather than relying on the abstract, since the exact order and structure of steps is what defines its scope.
The class data shows H01L absorbing most of the filing density at 75.0% of 92 records, while adjacent supporting classes such as adhesives (C09J), coatings (C23C) and measurement (G01R) each sit near 4%, well below the core cluster. That gap suggests under-claimed sub-areas around vacuum contact-force control, belt-transport microcrack propagation monitoring, and release-layer adhesive chemistry for ultra-thin stacks. These are technically specific branches rather than broad categories, and their low filing density relative to the core cluster makes them more open for new claims than the dominant device-level class.
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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.