Worldwide patent analysis on diamond like carbon film technology

Diamond like carbon film(DLC) is a carbon material that consists of sp3 hybrid orbital and sp2 hybrid orbital phases.Because DLC film has excellent mechanical,electric,optical,thermal,biocompatible properties which is similar to diamond film,Its application fields are more and more broad.DLC film technology patent documents worldwide from 1975 to 2007 was collected in this paper.Associated patent databases were established.The development thread and competition pattern of DLC film were investigated on both of technology and competitiveness upon quantity and quality analysis.Results show that:(1)DLC film technology has been at the mature stage;(2) Semiconductor,electro-optical information,tools,wear-resistant partsКmedical instruments areas are the focus of its application areas;(3) The top 10 important applicants Worldwide were listed,They were basically the multinational corporations of USA,Japan and Germany;(4) The number and the quality of the foreign applicants's patents are more than native applicants's patents;(5) At present the native DLC film industries were basically monopolized by foreign enterprises;(6) The patent strategy of DLC film technology were discussed.