CdTe Thin-Film Solar Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
- Filing activity peaked in 2018 at 20 families and has since fallen back toward single digits by the dataset midpoint, a flat-to-declining trend rather than a growing one.
- H01L dominates at 159 of 167 records while C23C deposition-process claims (31) and C03C glass/substrate claims (10) form the two largest secondary clusters worth checking before filing.
- Three inventors co-file repeatedly Sampath, Enzenroth and Barth each pair with one another on 7 co-assigned families, marking a tight core team behind a large share of the foundational art.
What the CdTe manufacturing patent record shows
CdTe thin-film solar cell module manufacturing patents concentrate overwhelmingly in semiconductor device claims (H01L), with a much smaller but persistent secondary layer covering coating and surface deposition (C23C), glass and enamel substrate work (C03C), and crystal growth (C30B). The search corpus spans 167 published families from 2015 through the 2026 cut-off, built around the two dominant deposition routes named in the search terms: vapor transport deposition and close-space sublimation, alongside general module fabrication claims.
Filing activity is not rising. The peak year on record is 2018, and by the midpoint year of 2022 filings had dropped to a single family, a pattern more consistent with a mature, narrowly-held field than an expanding one. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the final one or two years in any trend chart will always look thinner than they eventually turn out to be — that alone does not explain the earlier decline from 2018.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 167-family dataset: filings by year, and the IPC subclasses those filings actually claim into.
A peak year with no sustained follow-through
2018's peak of 20 families is not matched again through the midpoint year of 2022, which recorded just 1. That pattern points to a burst of foundational filing around manufacturing scale-up, followed by consolidation rather than continued expansion.
H01L carries the field; secondary classes are thin
H01L appears in 159 of 167 records, effectively the whole corpus. C23C (31) and C03C (10) are the only secondary classes with meaningful depth; H10K, C30B, B65G, C25D and H01B each sit at single digits, suggesting those adjacent processes are claimed incidentally rather than as a primary focus.
Shares are the percentage of the 167 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on CdTe Thin-Film Solar Cell Module Manufacturing with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about cdte thin-film solar cell module manufacturing and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe patents other filings cite most
CdTe Devices and Method of Manufacturing Same (US20140134786A1)
A method of producing polycrystalline CdTe materials and devices that incorporate the polycrystalline CdTe materials are provided. In particular, a method of producing polycrystalline p-doped CdTe thin films for use in CdTe solar cells in which the CdTe thin films possess enhanced acceptor densities and minority carrier lifetimes, resulting in enhanced efficiency of the solar cells containing the CdTe material are provided.Filed by Alliance for Energy Innovation, LLC, published 2014-05-15.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6137048A | Process for fabricating polycrystalline semiconductor thin-film solar cells, and cells produced thereby | 241 |
| 2 | US6423565B1 | Apparatus and processes for the massproduction of photovotaic modules | 237 |
| 3 | US20030129810A1 | Apparatus and processes for the mass production of photovoltaic modules | 219 |
| 4 | US20100147364A1 | Thin film photovoltaic module manufacturing methods and structures | 164 |
| 5 | US6169246B1 | Photovoltaic devices comprising zinc stannate buffer layer and method for making | 161 |
| 6 | US5922142A | Photovoltaic devices comprising cadmium stannate transparent conducting films and method for making | 129 |
| 7 | US7220321B2 | Apparatus and processes for the mass production of photovoltaic modules | 103 |
| 8 | US20090235986A1 | Back contact for thin film solar cells | 88 |
| 9 | US20050158891A1 | Apparatus and processes for the mass production of photovoltaic modules | 71 |
| 10 | US20100180935A1 | Multiple band gapped cadmium telluride photovoltaic devices and process for making the same | 66 |
Citation counts reflect influence within this searched corpus and skew toward older filings; they are not a measure of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Reading the trend and citation data together points to where claim space is genuinely occupied and where it is only lightly touched.
The foundational wave has passed
The bulk of core module-manufacturing claims were filed in the years around the 2018 peak. A single family at the 2022 midpoint indicates the field has moved from active claiming into consolidation, likely because the dominant process routes are already covered by earlier filers.
Device-layer claims are saturated
Nearly every record in this corpus touches H01L semiconductor device claims, meaning most novelty available in basic CdTe cell structure is already claimed. New filings need to differentiate through process parameters or adjacent hardware, not device architecture.
Old anchor patents still shape freedom-to-operate
The five most-cited records date from the earlier mass-production push and remain reference points for module fabrication apparatus and thin-film processes. Any new filing on module-scale manufacturing should be checked against this small set first.
US is the primary filing venue
Receiving-office counts show the United States carries more than double the next-largest office (EPO). Coverage in China and India is comparatively thin at 5 and 9 filings respectively, which may reflect either lower filing priority there or an opening for regional strategy.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to cdte thin-film solar cell module manufacturing, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the core manufacturing art
Assignee activity in this dataset is old and concentrated: the named organisations and inventor teams show no filings in the latest year, consistent with the broader flat-to-declining trend.
A tight three-person core team
Three names — Sampath, Enzenroth and Barth — each pair with one another on 7 co-assigned families, the strongest co-assignee links in the dataset. That density suggests a single research group or lab produced a disproportionate share of the foundational process patents.
No leading assignee is actively filing now
Every organisation tracked for recent-year momentum, including First Solar, General Electric and Midwest Research Institute, shows zero filings in the latest year. This is consistent with the field's flat-to-declining overall trend rather than any single company stepping back.
Filing strategy is US-anchored with PCT overflow
The 22 WIPO/PCT filings alongside 71 US filings point to applicants using PCT primarily as a staging route rather than filing broadly and directly in multiple national offices from the outset.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| First Solar, Inc. | 0 | — |
| General Electric Company | 0 | — |
| SOLEXANT CORP | 0 | — |
| Midwest Research Institute | 0 | — |
| Swift Solar, Inc. | 0 | — |
| SAMPATH WALAJABAD S | 0 | — |
| ENZENROTH ROBERT A | 0 | — |
| BARTH KURT L | 0 | — |
Where to take this next
The dataset points to a mature core and a thin secondary layer. Two directions follow from that.
Check freedom-to-operate against the anchor patents
The five most-cited records, several from the late-1990s to mid-2000s mass-production push, still anchor citation networks in this field. Any new module-fabrication filing should be checked against them before drafting claims.
Run a freedom-to-operate checkExplore the under-claimed process branches
C25D electroplating, B65G material handling and C30B crystal growth each appear in single digits despite sitting adjacent to the dense H01L core, suggesting claim room around process integration rather than device structure.
Explore white space in EurekaCommon questions about CdTe module manufacturing patents
The dataset's strongest concentration of related filings comes from a three-person inventor cluster — Sampath, Enzenroth and Barth — who co-assign repeatedly, each pairing appearing on 7 families. Beyond that group, organisations such as First Solar, General Electric and Midwest Research Institute appear among the named assignees but show no filings in the most recent tracked year. This suggests the foundational IP base was built by a relatively small set of research teams rather than a broad field of active filers.
Based on this corpus, filing activity is flat to declining, not growing. The peak year was 2018 with 20 families, and by the 2022 midpoint filings had dropped to just 1. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the very latest years will understate true activity, but that lag does not account for the multi-year decline visible well before the cut-off.
The search terms centre on two established routes, vapor transport deposition and close-space sublimation, both captured within the broader C23C coating and surface-deposition class, which appears in 31 of 167 records. The dominant classification overall, however, is H01L semiconductor devices at 159 records, meaning most patents claim the resulting device structure rather than the deposition apparatus alone.
The classes with the thinnest coverage relative to the core — C25D electroplating for back-contact formation, B65G conveying and material handling for module production lines, and C30B crystal growth control — each appear in only single digits despite sitting adjacent to the dense H01L cluster. That gap suggests process-integration and line-handling claims are less crowded than device-structure claims, making them a more open area for new filings.
US20140134786A1, assigned to Alliance for Energy Innovation, LLC and published 2014-05-15, covers a method of producing polycrystalline p-doped CdTe thin films with enhanced acceptor densities and minority carrier lifetimes for improved cell efficiency. It is a process-and-material claim rather than a broad device claim, so it constrains specific doping and film-quality approaches more than it blocks CdTe manufacturing generally. Anyone working on p-doping approaches for CdTe absorber layers should review its claims directly before finalising a process route.
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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.