Where does Novellus Systems, Inc. rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Novellus Systems, Inc. ranks #1,955 of 49,997 assignees by granted-patent volume, the same sort as the companies listing and top-holders ranking. See /methodology/#corpus-placement.

How many patents does Novellus Systems, Inc. hold?

Novellus Systems, Inc. holds 206 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 34 technology areas.

What is Novellus Systems, Inc.'s Innovation Score?

Novellus Systems, Inc. has an Innovation Score of 53.3 out of 100 (top 9% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does Novellus Systems, Inc. focus on?

Novellus Systems, Inc.'s top technology area is H01L (Semiconductor Devices NOT Covered BY Class H10) with 149 patents, ranking #126 of 3,373 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 34 CPC subclasses total.

Is Novellus Systems, Inc.'s patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Novellus Systems, Inc.'s recent grant velocity is -84% compared to the prior five-year period (grant years, not application filing dates). Grant activity has slowed relative to earlier years.

What does claim depth mean for Novellus Systems, Inc.'s patents?

Novellus Systems, Inc.'s patents average 19.2 claims each. This is an aggregate descriptive count from the grant record; it does not establish claim scope, legal strength, enforceability, or design-around risk.

How is the Novellus Systems, Inc. patent data sourced?

All patent data comes from USPTO PatentsView, a public research dataset maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office covering US granted utility patents from 2015 to 2025.

USPTO 2015–2025 USPTO PatentsView US Corporation

Novellus Systems, Inc.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 206 granted patents across 34 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2015–2025. Grant-trend analysis is cross-referenced to USPTO Patent Public Search; it does not measure application filings, current R&D, or legal strength. Primary class: H01L (Semiconductor Devices NOT Covered BY Class H10).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Novellus ranks #1,955 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 206 patents across 34 technology areas.

#1,955
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 9%
by Innovation Score (53.3/100): 19.2
avg claims per patent: -84%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R1955 · US Corporation #1,955 · 206 grants

GRANTS-MID · TOP-DECILE · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-FOCUS · INNOV-PAR · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-USCORP · VEL-DROP · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-MID 206 grants
TOP-DECILE #1,955/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Kddi
CPC-FOCUS H01L · 34 areas
INNOV-PAR 53.3/100
CLAIMS-RICH 19.2 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-DROP -84% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Kddi Corporation (±0 grants)

Instrument codes from this assignee’s USPTO PatentsView grant sheet: volume band, corpus rank, photo-finish peer, lead CPC, Innovation Score, claim depth, assignee type, velocity, and book completeness. Not a USPTO rating of patent strength.

How Novellus’s 53.3 Innovation Score adds up

The same four weighted components behind every Innovation Score on PlainPatent: portfolio volume, grant velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth.

Volume 18.4 pts (35%) Velocity 2.7 pts (5%) Breadth 20.6 pts (39%) Claim depth 11.5 pts (22%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
ACM Research… · near

53
Berg Companies · near

53
Citic Dicastal · near

53
Lion Group · near

53
Novellus Systems · this assignee

53
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Novellus's Innovation Score is 53.3/100 (top 9% of the PatentsView-derived corpus). The chart places that score against the nearest Innovation Score peers plus corpus poles, not a reprint of the volume ranking.

Does more volume mean deeper claims for Novellus?

Each dot is one of Novellus’s 8 nearest volume peers (same corpus rank neighbourhood as the chart above), placed by total granted patents (horizontal) against average claims per patent (vertical). Novellus’s own 19.2 claims/patent is ABOVE the 10.5 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

Novellus vs its 8 nearest volume peers: granted patents vs average claims per patent. Source: USPTO PatentsView.

Where Novellus's grants concentrate

Novellus Systems, Inc. is a focused PatentsView assignee: 34 CPC subclasses with 72.3% of grants classified under H01L (Semiconductor Devices NOT Covered BY Class H10). Peak complete grant year is 2015 (51 grants) versus a trough of 2 in 2024. By volume, Novellus sits between Kddi Corporation and Asml Holding N.V..

Novellus's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, Novellus Systems, Inc. moved from 34 to 14 grants (0.41x the prior three-year total, a multiple, not a CAGR). Among 3,296 tracked assignees with ≥100 grants and ≥20 prior-period grants, that multiple ranks #2,860. See the growth leaderboard.

Kddi

206
Lululemon Athleti…

206
Nissan Chemical

206
Noble Systems

206
Renishaw

206
Weber-stephen Pro…

206
Yanmar Power Tech…

206
Novellus Systems ◀

206
Asml Holding

205

What this shows Novellus holds 206 patents at rank #1,955, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Novellus

By rank, the assignees closest to #1,955 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in H01L (Semiconductor Devices NOT Covered BY Class H10)

Other assignees with the most granted patents in Novellus's primary technology class.

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for Novellus, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In H01L (Semiconductor Devices NOT Covered BY Class H10), Novellus ranks #126 of 3,373 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (53 here).

Citic Dicastal Co., Ltd. 53 Berg Companies, Inc. 53 ACM Research (SHANGHAI), Inc. 53 Lion Group, Inc. 53

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (19.2 here).

Dana-farber Cancer Institute, Inc. 19.2 avg CommScope Connectivity UK Limited 19.2 avg Becton Dickinson Rowa Germany GmbH 19.2 avg SR Technologies, Inc. 19.2 avg

Novellus's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

Composite of portfolio volume, grant velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth (0–100)

53 Top 9% higher than 91% of 49,997 US assignees

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US assignees. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source USPTO PatentsView, PlainPatent Innovation Score · 2015–2025

USPTO utility patent grants by year · 2015–2025

Grants by year

Teal-shaded recent years (2020–present) versus the 2015–2019 baseline. Full figures in the table below.

View data table

Novellus Systems, Inc. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	51	24.8%
2016	49	23.8%
2017	34	16.5%
2018	21	10.2%
2019	20	9.7%
2020	8	3.9%
2021	6	2.9%
2022	4	1.9%
2023	8	3.9%
2024	2	1.0%
2025partial year	3	1.5%

Which technologies does Novellus Systems, Inc. patent most?

H01L - Semiconductor Devices NOT Covered BY Class H10 149

C23C - Coating Metallic MATERIAL; Coating Material With Metallic MATERIAL; Surface Treatment OF Metallic Material BY Diffusion Into THE Surface, BY Chemical Conversion OR SUBSTITUTION; Coating BY Vacuum Evaporation, BY Sputtering, BY ION Implantation OR BY Chemical Vapour Deposition, IN General 98

C25D - Processes FOR THE Electrolytic OR Electrophoretic Production OF COATINGS; ELECTROFORMING; Apparatus Therefor 69

H01J - Electric Discharge Tubes OR Discharge Lamps 36

Y10T - Technical Subjects Covered BY Former US Classification 16

H10D - Inorganic Electric Semiconductor Devices 13

H10B - Electronic Memory Devices 11

B08B - Cleaning IN GENERAL; Prevention OF Fouling IN General 9

Y10S - Technical Subjects Covered BY Former Uspc Cross-reference ART Collections [XRACs] AND Digests 8

G03F - Photomechanical Production OF Textured OR Patterned Surfaces, e.g. FOR Printing, FOR Processing OF Semiconductor DEVICES; Materials THEREFOR; Originals THEREFOR; Apparatus Specially Adapted THEREFOR; 7

G01N - Investigating OR Analysing Materials BY Determining Their Chemical OR Physical Properties 5

C25C - Processes FOR THE Electrolytic Production, Recovery OR Refining OF METALS; Apparatus Therefor 4

C23F - Non-mechanical Removal OF Metallic Material From Surface ; Inhibiting Corrosion OF Metallic Material OR Incrustation IN GENERAL; Multi-step Processes FOR Surface Treatment OF Metallic Material Involving AT Least ONE Process Provided FOR IN Class C23 AND AT Least ONE Process Covered BY Subclass C21d 4

C25F - Processes FOR THE Electrolytic Removal OF Materials From OBJECTS; Apparatus Therefor 4

B05B - Spraying APPARATUS; Atomising APPARATUS; Nozzles 4

Top 15 of 34 technology areas

More on this record

Data Source

USPTO PatentsView, US granted patents 2015–2025

View all rankings → How is Innovation Score calculated?

What to do with this data

Novellus Systems, Inc.'s patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Novellus Systems, Inc.'s lead technology class is H01L (Semiconductor Devices NOT Covered BY Class H10), 72.3% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore H01L
Ranked #1,955 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Novellus Systems, Inc. against Kddi Corporation, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 53.3/100 blends volume, velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth. How it's calculated

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through May 2026; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Data sourced from USPTO PatentsView - official U.S. government patent data. See our methodology for computation details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainPatent

Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Data is sourced from the USPTO PatentsView database. Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sources used on this page

USPTO PatentsView - the disambiguated bulk patent-grant, assignee, and CPC data this page's figures are derived from. patentsview.org
Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) - the joint USPTO/EPO classification scheme used to group patents by technology area. cooperativepatentclassification.org
USPTO Patent Public Search - the official interface to verify the status of any individual patent. ppubs.uspto.gov

Compiled by PlainPatent , US Patent Intelligence Editorial Process · May 15, 2026

Every figure on PlainPatent is rendered directly from USPTO source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on USPTO source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 2026.