SHJ Carrier-Selective Contact Patent Snapshot 2026
SHJ carrier-selective contact patenting is a small but concentrated field, with the top five filers holding 57% of the leading filers’ combined activity and the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) holding the single largest position. Activity peaked in 2021, and the field has plateaued near that level since, indicating a maturing technology space with selective new entry from Chinese manufacturers and European research institutes.
CEA leads a concentrated research-driven field
The Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (CEA) ranks first with 7 patent records, followed by 3SUN SRL with 6 and Delft University of Technology with 5, establishing a clear three-institution front tier well ahead of the rest of the field.
The top five filers account for 57% of the ranked applicants visible in this query’ combined total, a high concentration ratio for a corpus of this scale. The tier gap between ranks 3 and 4 — Delft at 5 records versus LONGi and Arizona at 3 each — marks a meaningful step down into a fragmented mid-tier populated largely by Chinese universities and solar manufacturers.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (CEA) | 7 | |
| 2 | 3SUN SRL | 6 | |
| 3 | Delft University of Technology | 5 | |
| 4 | LONGi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd. | 3 | |
| 5 | The University of Arizona | 3 | |
| 6 | Advanced Solar Technology Institute Xuancheng | 2 | |
| 7 | Jinan University | 2 | |
| 8 | Jiaxing Shangyi New Energy Co., Ltd. | 2 | |
| 9 | Risen Energy Co., Ltd. | 1 | |
| 10 | State Power Investment Corporation Research Institute | 1 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 3SUN SRL | 1 | |
| 12 | Princeton University | 1 | |
| 13 | JIANGYIN AKCOME SCI & TECH | 1 | |
| 14 | Hangzhou Dianzi University | 1 | |
| 15 | CSI Solar Tech (Jiaxing) Co., Ltd. | 1 | |
| 16 | Suzhou Aikang Low Carbon Technology Institute | 1 | |
| 17 | Hebei University | 1 | |
| 18 | Institute of Physics Bhubaneswar | 1 | |
| 19 | University of Chinese Academy of Sciences | 1 | |
| 20 | Zhejiang Normal University | 1 |
CEA’s and 3SUN’s positions reflect sustained collaborative research programs rather than purely commercial filing strategies. Delft University of Technology’s presence at rank 3 underscores the degree to which academic institutions are shaping the prior-art evidence snapshot in this space, which has implications for freedom-to-operate assessments by commercial entrants.
The most recent 18–24 months of filings are subject to publication lag and will likely show additional records as disclosures mature. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Activity plateaued after a 2021 peak; semiconductor device claims dominate
The filing trend reveals a field that built steadily from 2017 to a 2021 surge, then settled at a moderate plateau, while the technology composition is overwhelmingly anchored in semiconductor device classifications with a notable secondary presence in organic semiconductor codes.
Annual filing trend
Annual filings rose from 2 records in 2017 to a peak of 8 in 2021, then eased to 5–6 in 2022–2023. The 2024–2025 values of 1 record each and zero for 2026 reflect publication lag rather than a real contraction, so they should not be interpreted as a continuing decline.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H01L (Semiconductor devices) accounts for the visible share of technology classifications, reflecting the core silicon heterojunction architecture. H10K (Organic semiconductors / OLED) is a secondary branch, consistent with perovskite-on-silicon tandem work that reuses organic charge-transport layer concepts. The remaining branches — C01G, C23C, and H10F — each appear only once, marking them as sparse adjacent areas.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Electron transport layer- and/or hole transport la…
The present invention is in the field of a semiconductor device sensitive to light, and specially adapted for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy, in particular a silicon hetero-junction solar cell, or photovoltaic (PV) cell, a processor for the manufacture thereof, and details thereof. Said solar cells comprise at least… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 一种钙钛矿/硅异质结太阳能叠层电池结构及其制作方法 | 40 |
| 2 | 一种过渡金属氧化物-硅异质结太阳能电池及其制备方法 | 26 |
| 3 | 一种钙钛矿-硅异质结叠层太阳能电池及其制作方法 | 19 |
| 4 | Hole-blocking TiO2/Silicon Heterojunction for Sili… | 13 |
| 5 | 一种钙钛矿/硅异质结太阳能叠层电池结构 | 9 |
| 6 | Transparent Conductive Oxide In Silicon Heterojunc… | 8 |
| 7 | 钙钛矿/硅异质结叠层太阳能电池和钙钛矿太阳能电池 | 6 |
| 8 | 一种氧化钼薄膜制备方法及以氧化钼薄膜作为空穴传输层的硅异质结太阳电池 | 6 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
Assignee snapshot from the current evidence set
The applicants below are visible in this query result. Because the evidence set is relatively small, read this section as a directional snapshot rather than a full competitive ranking.
Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique (CEA)
CEA holds the largest position at 7 patent records, focused across H01L 31 (photovoltaic semiconductor devices), H01L 27, and H01L 51, indicating engagement across both core cell architecture and multi-junction/tandem configurations. Momentum is flagged as a new entrant in the recent window, suggesting recent-period filing activity is concentrated in the prior window. CEA is also the visible collaboration hub, co-filing most heavily with 3SUN SRL.
patent records: 73SUN SRL
3SUN SRL ranks second with 6 patent records, mirroring CEA’s technology emphasis across H01L 31, H01L 27, and H01L 51 — consistent with a manufacturer co-developing cell architectures alongside its research partner CEA. Momentum is also flagged as a new entrant in the recent window. Its close alignment with CEA’s IPC portfolio suggests the two entities function as an integrated R&D unit for SHJ contact innovation.
patent records: 6Frequently asked questions
The corpus in scope contains 30 patent families, representing the global prior-art base for this specific technology area as captured in the PatSnap Eureka dataset.
CEA (Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives) leads with 7 patent records, ahead of 3SUN SRL at 6 and Delft University of Technology at 5.
China leads with 14 patent records, reflecting both domestic filer activity and international applicants prioritising the world’s largest solar manufacturing market. Europe (EPO), the United States, and WIPO (PCT) each carry 4 records.
The field is assessed at the Maturity stage: annual filings have plateaued near their 2021 peak. The multi-year recent-window growth remains positive at 9%, but annual volume has eased from its peak rather than continuing to rise.
The CEA–3SUN SRL partnership is by far the most active, with 5 co-filed patent records. CEA also has single co-filing relationships with two further entities, making it the central hub of the collaboration network.
Three IPC branches each hold only 1 patent record: C01G (compounds of other metals, relevant to transition metal oxide contacts), C23C (coating and surface deposition, relevant to thin-film deposition processes), and H10F (photovoltaic and light-sensitive devices). These are sparse relative to the visible H01L cluster and represent areas where dedicated prosecution could find more open claim space.
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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.
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