CIGS Solar Cell Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
- Filing has flattened, not grown. activity peaked at 7 families in 2020 and has since drifted back toward the 2017 level, with the most recent year still filling in as publications lag filing.
- Semiconductor-device claims dominate the composition. H01L accounts for 160 of 185 families, dwarfing the coating and electroplating subclasses that cover the actual deposition routes.
- The most-cited record is a decade older than the rest of the top table. US20050186342A1 carries 183 citations, more than double the next-most-cited filing, signalling a foundational reference rather than current competitive activity.
What this landscape covers
This landscape tracks patent families that combine CIGS thin-film solar cell claims with materials-level detail on the absorber, buffer or back-contact layers — the parts of the stack where composition and deposition chemistry actually determine device efficiency. The search deliberately excludes generic thin-film solar filings that do not specify a material for one of these three layers, so the 185 families here represent the more technically detailed end of the CIGS literature.
Filing runs from 2015 through the current data cut-off, with United States receiving offices accounting for the large majority of records and WIPO PCT filings a distant second. That distribution points to a field where applicants are still filing nationally rather than building broad multi-jurisdiction portfolios, consistent with a mature but not currently expanding technology base.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 185-family dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how those families split across IPC subclasses.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Annual filings moved from 5 in 2017 to a peak of 7 in 2020, sat at 5 by the 2022 midpoint, and show 0 in the most recent year — a figure that will revise upward as pending applications publish. The overall shape reads as flat-to-declining rather than an emerging technology curve.
IPC subclass distribution
H01L (semiconductor devices) covers 160 of 185 families, with H10P a distant second at 30. The coating- and deposition-specific subclasses — C23C, C25D, B05C, B05D, B05B — together account for fewer than 55 families, meaning most of the documented materials innovation is filed under general device claims rather than dedicated process classifications.
Shares are the percentage of the 185 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on CIGS Solar Cell Advanced Materials with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about cigs solar cell advanced materials and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited filings in this dataset
Humidity Control and Method for Thin Film Photovoltaic Materials
A method for processing a thin film photovoltaic module in which substrates carry a first electrode layer and an overlying CIGS or CIS absorber layer containing sodium-bearing species. The claimed process maintains the substrates in a controlled environment — relative humidity below 10% and temperature between roughly 10 and 40 degrees Celsius — from absorber formation through lamination, addressing a moisture-sensitivity failure mode specific to sodium-doped CIGS absorbers.Filed by CM Manufacturing, Inc.; published 2011-09-01.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20050186342A1 | Formation of CIGS absorber layer materials using atomic layer deposition and high throughput surface treatment | 183 |
| 2 | US20100059385A1 | Methods for fabricating thin film solar cells | 72 |
| 3 | US20130247972A1 | Passivation film stack for silicon-based solar cells | 62 |
| 4 | US20130186464A1 | Buffer layer for improving the performance and stability of surface passivation of silicon solar cells | 56 |
| 5 | US20080251120A1 | Thin Film Solar Cell and Manufacturing Method | 53 |
| 6 | US20090025640A1 | Formation of CIGS absorber layer materials using atomic layer deposition and high throughput surface treatment | 42 |
| 7 | US20200295209A1 | Integration of bypass diodes within thin film photovoltaic module interconnects | 39 |
| 8 | US20110256656A1 | Chemical Bath Deposition Apparatus for Fabrication of Semiconductor Films through Roll-to-Roll Processes | 37 |
| 9 | US20120061247A1 | Method and Chemistry for Selenium Electrodeposition | 34 |
| 10 | US20110212565A1 | Humidity Control and Method for Thin Film Photovoltaic Materials | 32 |
Citation counts are drawn from the searched corpus and skew toward older filings, which have simply had more time to accumulate citations; treat them as a measure of influence within this literature, not of current commercial relevance.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers indicate
Three signals stand out once filing volume, technology composition and citation concentration are read together.
Growth has stalled since 2020
The peak year of 7 families in 2020 has not been repeated; the 2022 midpoint of 5 and a drop to 0 in the most recent year both point to a technology base that is being maintained rather than expanded. Given the roughly 18-month publication lag, the most recent year understates true filing activity, but the multi-year decline from the 2020 peak is a genuine trend, not an artifact of lag.
Device claims crowd out process claims
Nearly all documented families sit in the general semiconductor-device subclass H01L, while the subclasses that actually describe deposition equipment and coating processes — C23C, C25D, B05C, B05D, B05B — hold well under a third of the total between them. That imbalance suggests device-level claim space is dense while specific process and apparatus claims remain comparatively open.
One foundational filing anchors the field
The most-cited record carries 183 citations, more than double the second-ranked filing at 72. A citation gap of that size usually marks a foundational reference that later filings build on or design around, rather than a currently active competitive front.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to cigs solar cell advanced materials, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) | ENRG | 4 |
| Applied Materials, Inc. | ZHANG LIN | 3 |
| General Electric Company | First Solar Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. | 2 |
| Applied Materials, Inc. | VISSER ROBERT J | 2 |
| Applied Materials, Inc. | SINGH KAUSHAL K | 2 |
| Applied Materials, Inc. | SHENG SHURAN | 2 |
| Applied Materials, Inc. | PUSHPARAJ VICTOR L | 2 |
| Applied Materials, Inc. | NALAMASU OMKARAM | 2 |
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear across 185 families, and the strongest pairing links at just 4 shared filings — co-development partnerships are the exception in this dataset, not the norm.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
Recent-year momentum has gone flat across the named assignees tracked in this dataset, each showing 0 filings in the most recent year — consistent with the overall decline from the 2020 peak rather than any single company pulling back.
No assignee is currently accelerating
Every assignee surfaced in the recent-momentum view, from IBM to General Electric to Swift Solar, shows zero filings in the most recent tracked year. That is consistent with the broader filing decline and suggests the field's most active filers have shifted attention elsewhere or are simply between filing cycles.
Collaboration is rare and shallow
The strongest co-assignee pairing in the dataset links at only 4 shared filings, involving IBM alongside an ENRG-named entity. With just 10 co-assignee pairs across 185 families, most patenting activity here is done by single applicants rather than joint ventures or research consortia.
Filing is concentrated in the US
United States receiving offices account for 134 records against 22 at WIPO (PCT), 10 at the EPO and single digits elsewhere. That pattern points to a technology base still being protected primarily at home rather than built out into broad international portfolios.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| TSMC Solar Ltd. | 0 | — |
| International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) | 0 | — |
| Swift Solar, Inc. | 0 | — |
| WANG JIAXIONG | 0 | — |
| Sandvik Intellectual Property AB | 0 | — |
| General Electric Company | 0 | — |
| Applied Materials, Inc. | 0 | — |
| LIANG HAIFAN | 0 | — |
Where to take this
The dataset points to a technology base with dense device-level claims but comparatively open process and apparatus claim space.
Map the process-claim white space
Coating, electroplating and spraying subclasses hold a small fraction of the total families despite covering the actual deposition chemistry — worth a targeted search before committing to a filing strategy in this area.
Explore white space in EurekaWatch for renewed filing activity
With every tracked assignee showing zero filings in the most recent year, a return to the 2020 peak level from any single filer would be a meaningful signal worth monitoring.
Track assignee activity in EurekaCommon questions on CIGS solar cell material patents
In this landscape, a filing had to combine CIGS or copper indium gallium selenide thin-film claims with specific detail on the absorber, buffer or back-contact layer material to be included. A patent that only claims a generic thin-film solar cell structure without specifying one of those three layers falls outside this dataset. This distinction matters because it separates device-architecture patents from the materials chemistry patents that actually govern efficiency and manufacturability.
Based on this dataset, no. Filing peaked at 7 families in 2020, sat at 5 by the 2022 midpoint, and has fallen toward 0 in the most recent tracked year. Publication lag of roughly 18 months means the most recent year will revise upward somewhat, but the multi-year decline from the 2020 peak is a real trend rather than a lag artifact, suggesting the field has matured past its most active filing period.
The dataset surfaces a mix of established semiconductor and materials firms, including IBM, General Electric, Applied Materials, Sandvik Intellectual Property, TSMC Solar and Swift Solar, alongside academic and specialist entities such as the University of Texas System and Solibro. None of these assignees shows filing activity in the most recent tracked year, which points to a field where the historically active filers have slowed rather than accelerated.
The clearest gap sits between device-level claims, which dominate the H01L subclass with 160 of 185 families, and process- or apparatus-level claims in coating, electroplating and spraying subclasses, which together cover well under a third of the dataset. Specific sub-areas worth checking include sodium-doping control methods, cadmium-free buffer layer alternatives, back-contact diffusion barriers and roll-to-roll deposition apparatus. A prior-art search focused on these narrower process claims is likely to surface less crowded space than a general absorber-material search.
The most-cited record, US20050186342A1, covers formation of CIGS absorber layer materials using atomic layer deposition combined with high-throughput surface treatment, and carries 183 citations within this corpus — more than double the next most-cited filing. That gap suggests it functions as a foundational reference point that later absorber-layer deposition work either builds on or explicitly designs around, rather than reflecting current commercial activity on its own.
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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.