Advanced Etching & Patterning Control

Techniques for precise material removal, pattern shaping, and controlling etch selectivity or uniformity, often involving plasma, wet chemistry, or directed beams to achieve desired features on semiconductor substrates.

9,196 US filings from 960 companies since 2023 · 2023: 2,600 · 2024: 2,579 · 2025: 2,789 · 2026 YTD: 1,228

Semiconductor Manufacturing Process

Top companies

Ranked by filings in this theme since 2023. 2026 is partial.

#	Company	Since 2023	2023	2024	2025	2026 YTD	YoY
1	TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED	1,530	386	397	524	223	+32.0%
2	Applied Materials, Inc.	1,017	285	290	318	124	+9.7%
3	Lam Research Corporation	495	141	122	164	68	+34.4%
4	SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.	429	96	110	132	91	+20.0%
5	Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.	406	105	136	128	37	-5.9%
6	ASML Netherlands B.V.	311	106	78	94	33	+20.5%
7	HITACHI HIGH-TECH CORPORATION	299	79	90	94	36	+4.4%
8	SEMES CO., LTD.	263	90	62	68	43	+9.7%
9	ASM IP Holding B.V.	230	64	55	69	42	+25.5%
10	Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.	217	88	67	51	11	-23.9%
11	SHIN-ETSU CHEMICAL CO., LTD.	216	60	56	64	36	+14.3%
12	NuFlare Technology, Inc.	136	47	30	39	20	+30.0%
13	CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA	127	40	30	41	16	+36.7%
14	Kokusai Electric Corporation	111	18	22	40	31	+81.8%
15	FEI Company	110	20	32	38	20	+18.8%
16	Kioxia Corporation	68	29	19	11	9	-42.1%
17	Advanced Energy Industries, Inc.	65	21	20	19	5	-5.0%
18	NANYA TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION	65	22	16	20	7	+25.0%
19	CHANGXIN MEMORY TECHNOLOGIES, INC.	64	30	21	12	1	-42.9%
20	FUJIFILM CORPORATION	59	17	12	22	8	+83.3%
21	SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.	57	14	21	13	9	-38.1%
22	Gigaphoton Inc.	55	7	19	15	14	-21.1%
23	TOKYO OHKA KOGYO CO., LTD.	55	11	21	16	7	-23.8%
24	International Business Machines Corporation	47	20	10	12	5	+20.0%
25	SPTS Technologies Limited	42	9	10	14	9	+40.0%