SiC Device Electrical Test Patent Landscape 2026
The SiC device electrical test patent space is tightly concentrated among a small group of Japanese and European power-semiconductor incumbents, with Fuji Electric and Sumitomo Electric together accounting for the largest share of activity. The field expanded steadily through 2020 and has since eased from that peak, with filing activity now at post-peak levels, though publication lag means the most recent periods are still under-counted.
Fuji Electric leads a highly concentrated field dominated by Japanese power-device makers
Fuji Electric Co. Ltd holds the top position in this landscape, followed closely by Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd, and Mitsubishi Electric Corp in third place. These three Japanese incumbents together set the competitive tone for the entire space.
The top five filers account for 63% of the combined patent records of the hundred largest filers, signaling a strongly consolidated competitive structure with a pronounced gap between the top tier and the remaining players. Infineon Technologies AG and Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co. Ltd round out that top five, the only non-Japanese entrants in the leading group.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fuji Electric Co. Ltd | 30 | |
| 2 | Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd | 27 | |
| 3 | Mitsubishi Electric Corp | 15 | |
| 4 | Infineon Technologies AG | 6 | |
| 5 | Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co. Ltd | 4 | |
| 6 | Mitsumi Electric Co. Ltd | 4 | |
| 7 | SK Siltron CSS LLC | 4 | |
| 8 | General Electric Co. | 3 | |
| 9 | TOSHIBA ELECTRONICS DEVICES & STORAGE CORPORARTION | 3 | |
| 10 | Toshiba Corporation | 3 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Dalian University of Technology | 3 | |
| 12 | Graphic Era University | 2 | |
| 13 | Hitachi Energy Switzerland AG | 2 | |
| 14 | Board of Regents, The University of Texas System | 2 | |
| 15 | University of Warwick | 2 | |
| 16 | Hitachi Energy Ltd | 2 | |
| 17 | University of South Florida | 1 | |
| 18 | China Electronics Reliability and Environmental Testing Institute | 1 | |
| 19 | Zhuzhou CRRC Times Semiconductor Co. Ltd | 1 | |
| 20 | Basic Semiconductor (Wuxi) Co. Ltd | 1 |
The incumbents’ commanding positions reflect deep, long-standing investment in SiC device fabrication and characterization; new entrants and academic filers have so far accumulated only marginal shares, suggesting meaningful barriers to closing the gap through patents alone.
Patent publications typically lag filing dates by 18–24 months, so activity in 2024–2025 is likely under-represented in current counts and should not be read as a definitive measure of recent investment. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Activity peaked around 2020 and the technology mix remains anchored in core semiconductor device classes
The annual filing trend reveals a field that built steadily from 2017 to 2020 and has since eased, while the technology composition shows that semiconductor device classification codes dominate, with measurement and materials branches playing supporting roles.
Annual filing trend
Filings held in a narrow band of 10–14 per year from 2017 through 2022, peaked around 2020, then eased to lower single-digit counts in 2023–2025. The 2024 and 2025 bars are materially affected by publication lag and should be treated as floors rather than final totals.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H01L (Semiconductor devices) is the dominant classification by a wide margin, reflecting the device-level focus of this test discipline. H10P and H10D branches add further semiconductor-device coverage, while G01R (Electric and magnetic measurement) is the primary measurement-specific class, confirming that most patents are framed as device inventions rather than pure test-method inventions. Crystal growth (C30B) and coating and surface deposition (C23C) appear as adjacent process classes tied to substrate and epitaxial quality assurance.
↗ 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.
Method of manufacturing silicon carbide semiconduc…
A method of manufacturing a silicon carbide semiconductor device. The method includes epitaxially growing an epitaxial layer on a starting substrate to form a semiconductor wafer, forming a plurality of scribe lines, including a first scribe line, in the epitaxial layer, forming a mark in the first scribe line, inspecting the epitaxial layer for a crystal… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Large area silicon carbide devices and manufacturi… | 50 |
| 2 | Silicon carbide epitaxial substrate and method for… | 36 |
| 3 | Silicon carbide semiconductor device and method of… | 35 |
| 4 | Silicon carbide large area device fabrication appa… | 30 |
| 5 | Silicon carbide semiconductor device and method of… | 16 |
| 6 | Semiconductor apparatus and method for producing t… | 16 |
| 7 | Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing a… | 12 |
| 8 | Silicon carbide semiconductor device and method of… | 12 |
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 strategic dimensions stand out from the evidence: the field’s life-cycle stage, the degree of concentration among filers, the ecosystem’s collaboration patterns, and the geographic distribution of protection.
Post-peak field: activity has eased from the 2020 high
The life-cycle evidence places this field in a Decline stage, with annual filings easing back from the 2020 peak. This does not necessarily mean commercial SiC testing is contracting — it may reflect consolidation of foundational claims and a shift of R&D effort toward application-specific or downstream testing methods not yet captured in this corpus. Publication lag means the 2023–2025 period remains under-counted.
Post-peak · 2020 highThree Japanese incumbents hold the commanding positions
Fuji Electric, Sumitomo Electric, and Mitsubishi Electric collectively dominate the top of the ranking. The top five filers’ 63% share of the hundred largest filers’ combined patent records indicates a high-concentration market where second-tier players — including Infineon, Panasonic, and Mitsumi Electric — hold meaningfully smaller positions. Late entrants face a formidable prior-art and freedom-to-operate challenge in core device-test methods.
High concentrationCo-filing activity is minimal: Toshiba group is the sole identified pair
The only co-applicant relationship identified in the evidence is between Toshiba Corp and Toshiba Electronics Devices and Storage Corporation, which filed together on 3 patent records. This intra-group collaboration likely reflects a corporate restructuring or spin-off dynamic rather than an external R&D partnership. The near-absence of cross-company co-filing suggests the field is largely prosecuted within individual firms rather than through consortia or joint ventures.
Minimal co-filingUS is the dominant filing jurisdiction; China is the only meaningful secondary market
The United States accounts for 100 patent records, making it the overwhelmingly dominant protection jurisdiction. China follows as the only other jurisdiction with notable coverage at 19 records, while Europe (EPO) holds 4 records and India 3. The limited EPO presence is notable given that several leading filers — Infineon, ABB/Hitachi Energy — are European-headquartered, suggesting that core protection strategy is centered on the US market.
US-dominant · China secondaryGo 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Toshiba Corporation | Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation | 3 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Fuji Electric leads on volume; Sumitomo Electric is the closest rival with a different trajectory
The two leaders are separated by only 3 patent records at the top of the ranking, but their recent momentum diverges sharply: Fuji Electric is a new entrant in the most recent filing window while Sumitomo Electric has seen a steep decline in recent activity.
Fuji Electric Co. Ltd
Fuji Electric leads the ranking with 30 patent records and its applicant momentum is tagged as a new entrant in the recent filing window, indicating that its current corpus was built in earlier periods and recent filings have just begun to appear. Its technology focus is concentrated in H01L 29 (semiconductor devices) and H01L 21 (semiconductor manufacturing processes), with H10D 62 as a supplementary class, reflecting a device-fabrication-oriented approach to electrical characterization.
patent records: 30Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd
Sumitomo Electric holds 27 patent records and ranks second overall, but its recent momentum shows a sharp decline of 73% compared to the prior three-year window, suggesting a meaningful pullback in active prosecution in this specific test domain. Its technology emphasis spans H01L 29 and H01L 21 — mirroring Fuji Electric — and adds C30B 29 (crystal growth), pointing to a test strategy tied closely to substrate and epitaxial quality, distinguishing it from peers.
patent records: 27| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd | 3 | ▼ -73% |
| Fuji Electric Co. Ltd | 7 | ▲ new entrant |
| Mitsubishi Electric Corp | 3 | ▲ new entrant |
| Dalian University of Technology | 1 | ▲ new entrant |
Under-served branches adjacent to the dominant SiC device-test core
Several IPC branches appear at low share within the corpus, making them sparse relative to the dominant H01L core. Two in particular combine low current coverage with plausible technical relevance to SiC test workflows.
G01K · Temperature measurement
With only 2 patent records and a 1% share among all IPC codes in this corpus, temperature measurement is a notably sparse branch despite being technically central to SiC device characterization — thermal performance and junction temperature are key reliability indicators in high-voltage SiC applications. The sparse coverage could reflect that thermal test methods are claimed within broader device patents rather than as standalone inventions, or that this sub-domain remains genuinely under-protected. An entrant with a differentiated thermal test methodology could find limited prior art in this specific class.
Search this in Eureka →C23C · Coating and surface deposition
C23C (coating and surface deposition) holds 6 patent records and a 2% share, placing it among the lower-density branches in the composition. Surface and interface quality — including oxidation, passivation, and contact metallization — are directly linked to gate-oxide reliability and contact resistance test outcomes in SiC MOSFETs and Schottky devices. The sparse coverage here may indicate that deposition-process patents are filed under separate product families rather than being integrated with test claims, leaving room for patents that connect surface preparation directly to electrical test protocols.
Search this in Eureka →How leaders differ by technology route across IPC branches
Route coverage across the main technology branches in the current evidence set.
| Player | H01L 29 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 21 · Semiconductor devices | G01R 31 · Electric & magnetic measurement | H10D 62 · Semiconductor devices (general) | H10P 14 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd | Strong · 31 | Strong · 29 | Absent | Emerging · 4 | Moderate · 14 |
| Fuji Electric Co. Ltd | Strong · 30 | Strong · 20 | Absent | Moderate · 9 | Emerging · 6 |
| Mitsubishi Electric Corp | Strong · 8 | Strong · 8 | Moderate · 4 | Emerging · 1 | Moderate · 2 |
| Infineon Technologies AG | Strong · 6 | Strong · 6 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co. Ltd | Strong · 4 | Strong · 4 | Absent | Strong · 4 | Absent |
| ABB Power Grids Switzerland AG | Strong · 5 | Strong · 5 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus analyzed contains 92 patent families in scope for this topic.
Fuji Electric Co. Ltd leads the ranking with 30 patent records, followed by Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd with 27 and Mitsubishi Electric Corp with 15.
It is highly concentrated: the top five filers — Fuji Electric, Sumitomo Electric, Mitsubishi Electric, Infineon Technologies, and Panasonic Intellectual Property Management — account for 63% of the combined patent records of the hundred largest filers.
Filing activity peaked around 2020 and has since eased, consistent with a post-peak lifecycle stage. The most recent years (2024–2025) are materially affected by publication lag and should be treated as under-counted floors rather than final figures.
The United States is the dominant jurisdiction with 100 patent records. China follows with 19 records, while Europe (EPO) holds 4 records and India 3 records.
Yes. Temperature measurement (G01K) and coating and surface deposition (C23C) are two adjacent branches with low patent-record counts — 2 and 6 respectively — relative to the dominant semiconductor-device classes, making them worth monitoring as potential under-served areas for new filings.
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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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