TOPCon Solar Cell Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Filing has already peaked. 2023 was the high point at 13 families; the count has not grown past that since, despite TOPCon's commercial ramp continuing.
- China holds almost the entire filing base. 38 of 43 records route through the Chinese patent office, against just 2 each for Europe and the US and 1 PCT filing.
- Collaboration is nearly absent. Only 2 co-assignee pairs exist across the whole set, both linking related entities within the same corporate group rather than outside partners.
Filing growth compares 2021 (4 records) with 2024 (9) — 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 43 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks patent families describing TOPCon (tunnel oxide passivated contact) solar cell structures alongside the mass-production side of the technology: LPCVD polysilicon deposition, high-throughput fabrication lines, and production-line claims specifically. The search combines TOPCon-specific text with production-and-scale-up terminology and IPC codes covering semiconductor devices, coating and surface deposition, so the result set is narrower than general TOPCon patenting and closer to the manufacturing engineering that determines who can actually build cells at volume.
Coverage runs from 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off. Because publication typically lags filing by around eighteen months, counts for the most recent one to two years are understated and should be read as a floor, not a ceiling.
Filing trend and technology split
43 patent families sit inside this search, concentrated tightly on semiconductor device claims with a smaller cluster on the deposition equipment side that makes LPCVD polysilicon scale-up possible.
Filings rose to a 2023 peak, then plateaued
Annual filings were at zero as recently as 2017, rose through the early 2020s, and peaked at 13 families in 2023. The 2022 midpoint of 7 sits roughly half the peak, indicating the growth phase was short rather than sustained — flat-to-declining activity since 2023 is the more accurate read once the 18-month publication lag on the tail years is accounted for.
H01L dominates; deposition equipment is a distinct minority
H01L (semiconductor devices) accounts for 40 of the records, an overwhelming majority, with C23C (coating and surface deposition) and H10P each appearing in 8. Adjacent classes — welding/brazing (B23K), printing machinery (B41F), photovoltaic devices under H10F, and organic semiconductors (H10K) — each contribute a single record, marking them as edge cases rather than established sub-fields within this corpus.
Shares are the percentage of the 43 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on TOPCon Solar Cell Scale-Up and Mass Production with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about topcon solar cell scale-up and mass production and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited records
US20230006086A1 — Partial tunneling oxide layer passivation contact structure of photovoltaic cell and photovoltaic module
A structure of partial tunnel oxide passivated contact for a photovoltaic cell and a photovoltaic module. The structure comprises a first tunnel oxide layer disposed on a surface of a cell body, and a first polysilicon film disposed on a surface of the tunnel oxide layer. The surface of the cell body has a region for passivated contact and a region for light absorption; the first tunnel oxide layer is disposed in the region for passivated contact, and a projection of the first polysilicon film on the surface of the cell body is located in the region for passivated contact.Filed by Zhejiang Jinko Solar Co., Ltd., published 2023-01-05 — one of only two US-routed filings in this dataset.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CN113972302A | TOPCon电池及其制备方法和电器设备 | 57 |
| 2 | CN109935660A | 一种管式PECVD设备生产异质结太阳能电池非晶硅镀膜沉积层的方法 | 28 |
| 3 | CN110416359A | 一种TOPCon结构电池的制备方法 | 14 |
| 4 | CN111416011A | 一种p型PERC晶硅太阳电池及制备方法 | 8 |
| 5 | CN117855330A | 双面Topcon背结电池的制备方法及电池 | 6 |
| 6 | CN117153953A | 开膜式双面TOPCon电池的制备方法 | 6 |
| 7 | US20240395963A1 | TOPCon CELL, METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME, AND ELECTRICAL DEVICE | 5 |
| 8 | CN116031334A | TOPCon电池生产过程中多晶硅层厚度的判断方法 | 4 |
| 9 | CN113488547A | 隧穿氧化层钝化结构及其制作方法与应用 | 4 |
| 10 | CN118763150A | 一种提高晶硅电池表面氧化层钝化效果的工艺 | 3 |
Citation counts favour older filings in any searched corpus; treat this table as a signal of influence within the set, not a ranking of current technical importance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the filing pattern signals
Three structural features stand out once the ranking and trend data are read together: a jurisdictional concentration, a citation cluster around a small number of foundational structure claims, and a near-total absence of cross-company filing activity.
Filing is a domestic race
Almost every family in this set was filed through the Chinese patent office. The 2 EPO and 2 US filings, plus 1 PCT application, are exceptions rather than a genuine international filing strategy, which suggests the manufacturing know-how being protected here is being defended primarily against domestic competitors.
A small number of structure patents anchor the field
CN113972302A alone draws 57 citations, more than double the next most-cited record. That gap points to a small set of foundational TOPCon structure and fabrication-method claims that later filings build on or design around, rather than a broad, evenly-cited base.
Almost no cross-entity filing
Only two co-assignee pairs appear across the full set, and both link entities inside the same corporate family rather than independent partners. Scale-up know-how in this space is being filed by single entities, not joint ventures or shared R&D programmes.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to topcon solar cell scale-up and mass production, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gate sits
Filing is dispersed across a number of Chinese cell and equipment makers, several of them showing zero activity in the latest tracked year — consistent with the broader plateau rather than any single company's retreat.
Momentum has stalled across the leaderboard
Every assignee tracked for recent-year momentum — spanning established cell makers and specialist equipment suppliers — shows zero filings in the latest year. That is consistent with the dataset's 2023 peak and flat-to-declining trend rather than a single company pulling back.
No single filer dominates the count
With 43 total families spread across a double-digit list of named assignees and only two co-assignee links, the ownership structure is fragmented. That fragmentation, combined with the H01L concentration, means claim space on core cell structure is being staked out independently by several parties rather than consolidated.
Equipment and cell makers filing side by side
The named assignees mix vertically integrated cell producers with dedicated deposition-equipment and coating specialists, both filing under the same China-heavy pattern. That overlap suggests the process (LPCVD, coating) and the device (cell structure) claims are being pursued by adjacent but distinct supply-chain players.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Changzhou Shichuang Energy Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Tongwei Solar (Meishan) Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Hanwha New Energy (Qidong) Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Yingli Energy Development Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Yingli Energy Development (Baoding) Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Jiangsu NAURA Micro-Nano Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Wuxi Zhongsheng Xinchuang Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Heguang Tongcheng Photovoltaic Technology (Yibin) Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The filing plateau and jurisdictional concentration raise questions that a single landscape snapshot cannot answer on its own.
Track the 2024-2026 tail as it fills in
Publication lag means the true trajectory since the 2023 peak is not yet visible. Revisit filing counts for the most recent two years once more records publish, before concluding the technology has plateaued.
Monitor filing trends in EurekaCheck freedom-to-operate against the top-cited records
A small number of structure and fabrication-method patents draw the bulk of citations in this set. Any commercial-scale process should be checked against those claims specifically, not against the corpus average.
Run a claim comparison in EurekaWatch equipment-side filers, not just cell makers
Coating and deposition equipment specialists file alongside vertically integrated cell producers here. Equipment-side claims can constrain process choices even where cell-structure claims are clear.
Search equipment assignees in EurekaCommon questions about TOPCon scale-up patents
The dataset shows filings rising from zero in 2017 to a peak of 13 families in 2023, then flattening. This does not necessarily mean the technology stopped advancing — publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2024-2026 filings are still under-represented in any count taken today. It more likely reflects that the core structural claims around TOPCon cell architecture were staked out early in the ramp, pushing later filers toward narrower process refinements that may sit outside this specific search scope.
Influence in this corpus is measured by citation count, and one record, CN113972302A covering TOPCon cell and preparation methods, draws far more citations than any other at 57. A cluster of other Chinese-filed records covering cell preparation methods and PECVD-based deposition follow at lower citation levels. Because citation counts favour older filings, this ranking reflects foundational influence within the searched set rather than which patents matter most for a 2026 production line.
Yes, heavily. Of 43 total records, 38 were filed through the Chinese patent office, with only 2 each through the EPO and USPTO and a single PCT filing. That concentration means freedom-to-operate risk for manufacturing in China is considerably higher than for operations elsewhere, and companies planning US or European production should not assume the Chinese filing density translates directly into blocking risk in their own jurisdiction.
This Jinko Solar filing, published January 2023, claims a partial tunnel oxide layer passivation contact structure: a tunnel oxide layer positioned specifically over the passivated-contact region of the cell, with a polysilicon film projected onto that same region rather than covering the full cell surface. The claim is narrower than a general TOPCon structure patent because it specifies a partial, region-selective layout rather than a blanket passivation layer. Anyone designing a partial-contact TOPCon architecture should compare their layout against this claim's region-specific language before assuming a full-coverage design avoids it.
Very few. The dataset identifies only 2 co-assignee pairs across all 43 families, and both connect related entities within the same corporate group rather than independent companies partnering on R&D. This suggests that, at least within the scope of this search, scale-up and mass-production know-how is being protected through single-entity filings rather than joint development agreements or shared patent ownership.
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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.