Crystalline-Silicon PV Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Concentration is modest at the top. the ranked leader holds 125 records but the top 5 combined account for only 11.1% of all 3,349 records in scope, so no single filer controls the field.
- Filing has kept growing, not stalled. 2021 to 2024 filings rose from 100 to 109, a 9% increase over the three complete years available.
- Semiconductor device claims dominate. H01L covers 66.6% of all records, while photovoltaic-specific H02S sits at just 10.1% — most crystalline-silicon PV claims are filed as semiconductor device art, not as solar-specific classification.
Filing growth compares 2021 (100 records) with 2024 (109) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 3,349 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This landscape draws on 3,349 published patent records matching crystalline-silicon photovoltaic cell and module claims tied to solar irradiance, cell efficiency, module temperature or power output, filed between 2015 and the 2026 data cut-off. Records are grouped into patent families for the assignee ranking, which neutralises duplicate filings across jurisdictions and continuation practice. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent one to two years in any trend chart will always look thinner than the underlying filing activity actually was.
The field spans core semiconductor device engineering, dedicated photovoltaic and solar-generation classifications, materials testing, optics and organic semiconductor work that overlaps with silicon cell architectures. Reading the IPC composition alongside the assignee ranking shows where claim density is already high and where a new filing would face less crowded prior art.
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 3,349-record corpus: filing activity over time, and the IPC subclasses those records are classified under.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings peaked at 144 in 2017. From 2021 to 2024 — the last span that can be read as complete — filings rose from 100 to 109, a 9% increase; 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in as publications catch up to filing dates.
IPC subclass composition
H01L (semiconductor devices) covers 66.6% of the 3,349 records, far ahead of H02S (photovoltaic/solar power generation) at 10.1%. Because a record can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100% and should be read against the 3,349-record total, not against each other.
Shares are the percentage of the 3,349 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Crystalline-Silicon Photovoltaics Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about crystalline-silicon photovoltaics patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited prior art
Silicon photovoltaic cell scanning eddy current thermography detection platform and defect classification method (Wuhan University, 2020)
The disclosure describes a defect-inspection platform for silicon photovoltaic cells that fixes an electromagnetic inductive coil and thermal imager over a conveyor line carrying cells through a scanning eddy-current heating zone, captures thermal image sequences of the resulting defect temperature signatures, and applies feature-extraction algorithms to classify the defects.Filed by Wuhan University, published 2020-10-01.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5247190A | Electroluminescent devices | 5,757 |
| 2 | WO1990013148A1 | Electroluminescent devices | 1,631 |
| 3 | US5399502A | Method of manufacturing of electroluminescent devices | 904 |
| 4 | US7437193B2 | Microstimulator employing improved recharging reporting and telemetry techniques | 618 |
| 5 | US20040059392A1 | Microstimulator having self-contained power source | 616 |
| 6 | US4871917A | Vehicular moisture sensor and mounting apparatus therefor | 538 |
| 7 | WO2014045021A1 | Optoelectronic device | 517 |
| 8 | US5801519A | Self-excited power minimizer/maximizer for switching power converters and switching motor drive applications | 463 |
| 9 | US20120043818A1 | Switching Circuits For Extracting Power From An Electric Power Source And Associated Methods | 454 |
| 10 | US4973844A | Vehicular moisture sensor and mounting apparatus therefor | 357 |
Citation counts favour older filings simply by virtue of having had more time to be cited — treat this as a signal of influence within the searched corpus, not a ranking of current technical importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three readings of the same dataset, each pointing to a different practical decision: where prior art is dense, where activity is still rising, and where citation weight actually sits.
No single filer dominates
The ranked leader holds 125 records, and the top 5 assignees combined account for just 11.1% of all 3,349 records in scope. That is a long tail rather than a gatekeeper field — freedom-to-operate risk is spread across many mid-size filers rather than concentrated in one or two blocking portfolios.
Filing activity is still climbing
Filings rose from 100 in 2021 to 109 in 2024, the last span with complete publication data. That is growth, not plateau — treat the apparent drop-off after 2024 as a publication-lag artefact rather than a real slowdown.
Most claims sit in semiconductor art, not solar-specific classes
H01L (semiconductor devices) covers 66.6% of the 3,349 records while the dedicated photovoltaic class H02S covers only 10.1%. Anyone searching only solar-specific classifications will miss most of the relevant prior art in this field.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to crystalline-silicon photovoltaics patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
The ranking spans 100 companies with no dominant blocker, several tightly linked co-assignee pairs pointing to joint-venture filing structures, and momentum figures that show even the most active recent filers cooling off year-on-year.
A large but non-exclusive leader
The top-ranked assignee holds 125 records, well ahead of fifth place at 57 and tenth place at 47 — a real lead, but not one that forecloses the field given the long tail behind it.
Joint filing structures are visible in the data
The strongest co-assignee pair shares 55 records, and a second pair shares 50 — patterns consistent with parent-subsidiary or joint-venture filing arrangements rather than independent competitors.
Recent-year momentum is cooling for named filers
Several of the more active recent assignees show sharp year-on-year declines in the latest year, and multiple others show zero filings in the latest year — read this alongside the publication lag rather than as a sign those firms have exited the space.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Zhejiang Jinko Solar Co., Ltd. | 1 | -86% |
| Jinko Solar Co., Ltd. | 1 | -80% |
| Resonac Corp | 0 | — |
| Solexel Inc. | 0 | — |
| Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (IMEC vzw) | 0 | — |
| Oxford University Innovation Ltd | 0 | — |
| Zhejiang Aiko Solar Energy Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| Guangdong Aiko Solar Energy Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
Where to take this from here
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, competitive tracking or claim drafting.
Map claim language against the leading portfolios
With no single assignee controlling more than a small share of records, a freedom-to-operate review needs to check claim scope across several mid-size filers rather than one dominant holder.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaTrack the under-claimed branches before they fill in
Sub-areas like defect inspection methods and thermal degradation modelling show thinner filing density than core semiconductor claims, and that gap tends to close as the underlying manufacturing technology matures.
Run a white space search in EurekaWatch publication-lag-affected years before drawing conclusions
The 2025-2026 filing counts will revise upward as publications catch up; re-check momentum figures for recent assignees once later data cuts are available.
Set up monitoring in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
The ranked leader in this dataset holds 125 records, with fifth place at 57 and tenth place at 47, out of a 100-company ranking. No single company dominates the field: the top 5 assignees combined account for only 11.1% of all 3,349 records in scope, and the top 10 for 18.7%. That spread means freedom-to-operate analysis has to look across many mid-size filers rather than a single gatekeeper.
No — based on the last three complete filing years, activity rose from 100 records in 2021 to 109 in 2024, a 9% increase. The 2025 and 2026 counts in the raw trend look lower, but that reflects the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication, not an actual drop in filing activity. Any assessment of momentum should rely on 2024 and earlier as the most reliable complete-year data.
H01L, the semiconductor devices subclass, covers 66.6% of the 3,349 records in this corpus, while the dedicated photovoltaic/solar power generation subclass H02S covers only 10.1%. This reflects how crystalline-silicon cell claims are typically drafted around device structure and manufacturing rather than solar-system-level classification. A prior-art search limited to H02S alone would miss most of the relevant filings.
US20200313612A1, filed by Wuhan University, describes a defect-inspection platform that uses a fixed electromagnetic inductive coil and thermal imager over a conveyor carrying silicon photovoltaic cells, capturing thermal image sequences and classifying defects through feature-extraction algorithms. It is narrowly drawn around eddy-current scanning combined with thermal imaging on a moving production line. Alternative inspection approaches that do not combine both eddy-current excitation and thermal imaging in this specific configuration would sit outside its likely claim scope, though a full claim-chart review is needed before relying on that reading.
Filing density is comparatively thin in sub-areas such as eddy-current defect inspection methods, module-level thermal degradation modelling, and organic-silicon hybrid cell interfaces relative to the dense core semiconductor-device claim space under H01L. These branches show up as smaller IPC subclass shares (H10K at 7.1%, G01N at 4.8%, F24S at 4.2%) alongside the dominant H01L share. That combination — high overall filing volume but thinner coverage in these specific technical branches — is where a first claim is more likely to clear prior art cleanly.
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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.