Recently, Chinese photovoltaic leader Canadian Solar has filed an inter partes review (IPR) with the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) against First Solar’s US9130074B2 patent (hereinafter referred to as the “‘074 patent”), seeking to invalidate claims 1-8 of the patent. The case is numbered IPR2025-01432.
It is reported that the ‘074 patent relates to high-efficiency solar cell structures and manufacturing methods, particularly for back-contact cells. The patent covers the formation of layered structures on silicon wafer substrates, such as growing an amorphous interface passivation layer (e.g., silicon oxide) and depositing a doped conductive passivation layer (e.g., polysilicon). The original rights holder of the patent was U.S. company TetraSun, which was acquired by First Solar in 2013.
Canadian Solar’s initiation of the IPR proceedings stems from a lawsuit filed by First Solar on May 9 this year, in which the latter accused Canadian Solar of infringing its above-mentioned TOPCon technology patent in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. Earlier, on February 25 this year, First Solar had already sued Jinko Solar over the same patent. Jinko Solar filed an IPR against the patent on July 18 (the case has not yet been docketed).
