SHJ Light Management Patent Landscape 2026
The SHJ light management patent field is at a mature stage, with annual filings having plateaued near their peak; the top five filers hold roughly a third of activity among the hundred largest filers, shared across European research institutes and US technology leaders. China is the dominant filing jurisdiction, and semiconductor device engineering (H01L) accounts for the overwhelming majority of technology coverage.
A fragmented but research-institute-led field with no single dominant commercial player
The field is led jointly by IBM, EPFL, and the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), each filing the same number of patent records at the top of the ranking, followed closely by KU Leuven and IMEC. This multi-way tie at the front signals that no single entity has achieved decisive IP control.
The top five filers together account for roughly a third of the combined total among the hundred largest filers, indicating a moderately fragmented landscape where challengers from Chinese industry — notably Jiangxi Dianto New Energy Technology and Tongwei Solar — are actively entering.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) | 6 | |
| 2 | Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) | 6 | |
| 3 | French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) | 6 | |
| 4 | KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) | 5 | |
| 5 | imec (Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre) | 5 | |
| 6 | 3SUN S.r.l. | 4 | |
| 7 | Jiangxi Dianto New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. | 4 | |
| 8 | Delft University of Technology | 4 | |
| 9 | Tongwei Solar (Jintang) Co., Ltd. | 3 | |
| 10 | ENN Solar Energy Co., Ltd. | 3 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Fujian Xifeng 2D Material Technology Co., Ltd. | 3 | |
| 12 | The Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona | 3 | |
| 13 | Advanced Solar Technology Institute Xuancheng | 2 | |
| 14 | Changzhou SC Exact Equipment Co., Ltd. | 2 | |
| 15 | Gold Stone (Fujian) Energy Co., Ltd. | 2 | |
| 16 | Jiangxi Changda High-Tech Energy Materials Technology Co., Ltd. | 2 | |
| 17 | SUZHOU YUANLIAN SCI & TECH PIONEER PARK MANAGEMENT… | 2 | |
| 18 | Dianto New Energy Technology (Longgang) Co., Ltd. | 2 | |
| 19 | Jiujiang Dengtukuo Machinery Co., Ltd. | 1 | |
| 20 | Jetion Solar (China) Co., Ltd. | 1 |
The dominance of universities and public research institutes at the top of
Filing counts for the most recent 18–24 months are subject to publication lag and will rise as pending applications publish; any apparent softness in 2023–2025 data should not be read as a structural decline. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
A 2017 peak followed by a steady rebuild, concentrated in semiconductor device engineering
The annual filing trend and the technology branch composition together show a field that originated with strong early activity, cooled, and has since rebuilt volume — while remaining technically anchored to a single dominant IPC class.
Annual filing trend
Filings peaked in 2017, fell sharply through 2019, then recovered progressively from 2020 to 2023. The 2024–2026 bars reflect publication lag rather than actual filing volume and should be treated as incomplete. The multi-year window still shows positive growth of 25%, consistent with renewed industry interest in SHJ architectures.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H01L semiconductor device engineering dominates the technology mix by a wide margin, confirming that light management innovation in SHJ is primarily pursued through device-layer and junction-engineering approaches. Crystal growth (C30B), organic semiconductors (H10K), and coating and surface deposition (C23C) each represent a small slice, marking them as structurally adjacent rather than core branches.
↗ 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.
HOCHEFFIZIENTE SILIZIUM-SOLARZELLE MIT HETEROÜBERG…
The present application discloses a high-efficiency silicon heterojunction (HJT) solar cell and a manufacturing method thereof, and belongs to the technical field of solar cells. In the solar cell of the present application, an N-type crystal silicon wafer is successively provided with a thin SiO2 layer, a hydrogenated amorphous carbon silicon oxide film… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Method of manufacturing an amorphous/crystalline s… | 97 |
| 2 | Silicon heterojunction solar cells and methods of … | 35 |
| 3 | 一种增强型石墨烯‑硅异质结光电探测芯片及其制备方法 | 17 |
| 4 | 一种背结晶硅异质结双面太阳电池及制备方法 | 16 |
| 5 | Method of patterning an amorphous semiconductor la… | 15 |
| 6 | 一种降低单晶硅异质结太阳能电池片反射率的制绒方法 | 15 |
| 7 | 单晶硅异质结太阳电池用两面差异化绒面结构及制备方法 | 14 |
| 8 | Deposition method of perovskite material | 11 |
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.
What the competitive structure means for R&D investment decisions
Four structural readings — maturity stage, concentration level, collaboration patterns, and geographic coverage — shape the strategic context for any entrant or incumbent evaluating SHJ light management R&D.
Plateau-stage field with a positive multi-year growth window
The lifecycle evidence places SHJ light management at the Maturity stage: annual filing volume has plateaued near its peak (first reached in 2017) rather than continuing to climb. The 25% growth across the recent multi-year window confirms the field is not contracting, but the era of rapid annual expansion has passed. New entrants face a body of established prior art concentrated in semiconductor device engineering.
Maturity stageModerate fragmentation with a research-institute tier at the front
The top five filers — IBM, EPFL, CEA, KU Leuven, and IMEC — share roughly a third of the activity among the hundred largest filers, with no single entity holding a commanding lead. This moderate fragmentation means IP freedom-to-operate analysis is non-trivial: foundational claims are spread across multiple jurisdictions and institutional holders rather than concentrated in one portfolio.
Moderate fragmentationThree active co-filing pairs anchor the collaboration network
IMEC and KU Leuven are the most active co-filers, with five jointly filed records, reflecting their long-standing joint research infrastructure. CEA and 3SUN have co-filed four records, linking a French public institute to an Italian commercial solar manufacturer. Jiangxi Dianto New Energy Technology and its affiliate Dianto New Energy Technology (Longgang) have jointly filed two records, signaling an emerging Chinese industry cluster built around shared IP.
Institute–industry pairsChina leads in filing volume; US and Europe hold quality anchor positions
China is the lead filing jurisdiction with the largest share of patent records, followed by the United States and Europe (EPO). India and WIPO (PCT) filings round out the international picture. This distribution suggests Chinese manufacturers are actively building domestic protection, while US and European research institutes are securing broader international coverage through EPO and PCT routes.
China-led, globally spreadGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| imec (Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre) | KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) | 5 |
| French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) | 3SUN S.r.l. | 4 |
| Jiangxi Dianto New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. | Dianto New Energy Technology (Longgang) Co., Ltd. | 2 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
IBM and EPFL co-lead on semiconductor device claims; CEA spans the broadest technology range
The leading positions are held by institutions with complementary emphases: IBM and EPFL concentrate on core H01L semiconductor device engineering, while CEA extends across multiple H01L sub-classes and into organic semiconductors.
International Business Machines Corporation
IBM holds 6 patent records at the top of the ranking, focused entirely on H01L semiconductor device engineering across two sub-classes (H01L31 and H01L21), indicating a device-process emphasis on junction fabrication and semiconductor manufacturing. Momentum data for IBM is not available in the current evidence set; its established corpus positions it as the reference holder for foundational process claims.
patent records: 6French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA)
CEA also holds 6 patent records but spans a broader technology range, covering H01L31, H01L27, and H01L51 — the last indicating organic and thin-film device work alongside crystalline silicon heterojunction claims. CEA’s active co-filing relationship with 3SUN (4 joint records) further links its research pipeline to commercial manufacturing, and its momentum trend is marked as a new entrant in the recent filing window, suggesting fresh activity from a small recent base.
patent records: 6| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) | 1 | ▲ new entrant |
| Delft University of Technology | 4 | ▲ new entrant |
| 3SUN S.r.l. | 1 | ▲ new entrant |
| Jiangxi Dianto New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. | 3 | ▲ new entrant |
Three under-served IPC branches adjacent to the dominant H01L core
Three IPC branches account for a small fraction of SHJ light management patent records collectively; each is structurally adjacent to the dominant semiconductor device class and carries plausible technical relevance to light management performance.
C30B · Crystal growth
Crystal growth methods appear in only 3 patent records, representing roughly 4% of the technology composition. Controlling silicon crystal morphology at the heterojunction interface directly governs carrier lifetime and optical absorption — core light management parameters. The sparse coverage suggests that crystal-growth-specific claims have not been systematically pursued alongside device-layer filings. An entrant with expertise in epitaxial or monocrystalline silicon growth could find room to build differentiated positions here, though the small prior-art base may reflect inherent technical difficulty rather than pure neglect.
Search this in Eureka →C23C · Coating and surface deposition
Surface deposition appears in only 1 patent record, the sparsest branch in the corpus. Anti-reflection and passivation coatings deposited by CVD, ALD, or sputtering are directly relevant to front-surface light management in SHJ cells. The near-absence of C23C filings is notable given that deposition process innovation is central to industrial SHJ manufacturing scale-up. This is an observation of relative sparsity; a realistic entry path exists for equipment or materials suppliers already active in thin-film deposition who can connect their process IP to SHJ-specific light management outcomes.
Search this in Eureka →How leading applicants differ across technology sub-classes
Route coverage across the main technology branches in the current evidence set.
| Player | H01L 31 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 21 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 51 · Semiconductor devices | C30B 33 · Crystal growth | H01L 27 · Semiconductor devices |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) | Strong · 6 | Absent | Moderate · 3 | Absent | Moderate · 3 |
| 3SUN S.r.l. | Strong · 4 | Absent | Strong · 3 | Absent | Strong · 3 |
| International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) | Strong · 6 | Moderate · 3 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) | Strong · 6 | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) | Strong · 5 | Emerging · 1 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| imec (Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre) | Strong · 5 | Emerging · 1 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Delft University of Technology | Strong · 4 | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus contains 55 patent families in scope, representing the global body of IP directly relevant to SHJ light management as identified in this analysis.
IBM, EPFL, and CEA are jointly ranked first, each holding 6 patent records in the corpus. KU Leuven and IMEC follow with 5 patent records each.
H01L semiconductor devices is the dominant branch by a wide margin, accounting for 71 patent records. Crystal growth (C30B), organic semiconductors (H10K), and coating and surface deposition (C23C) each represent only a small fraction of coverage.
China is the lead filing jurisdiction with 32 patent records, followed by the United States with 16 and Europe (EPO) with 10. India, WIPO (PCT), Singapore, and others round out the international distribution.
The lifecycle evidence places the field at the Maturity stage: annual volume has plateaued near its peak rather than continuing to climb, though the multi-year growth window remains positive at 25%. The original peak year was 2017; filings recovered from 2020 onward. Data for the most recent 18–24 months is subject to publication lag.
IMEC and KU Leuven are the most active co-filers with 5 jointly filed records, followed by CEA and 3SUN with 4 joint records, and Jiangxi Dianto New Energy Technology with its affiliate Dianto New Energy Technology (Longgang) with 2 joint records.
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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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