Company patents
Shanghai Huali Microelectronics Corporation
Shanghai Huali Microelectronics Corporation's patent strategy shows a surprising shift away from core semiconductor areas like "Integrated Circuit Layout & Arrangement" (down 100% YoY in 2025) and "Photolithography" (down 100% YoY in 2024 and 2026 so far), despite these being significant portions of its portfolio (22.9% and 11.4% respectively). Concurrently, the company is exploring new areas such as "Photovoltaic / Photoconductive Devices," which saw a significant emergence in 2025 with 5 patents, and "Pulse / Digital Logic Circuits," which experienced rapid growth of 200% YoY in 2025, indicating a potential diversification or re-prioritization of R&D efforts.
Patent Trend by Technology Area
Yearly patent publications since 2023
Product themes
Product-level themes inferred from filings since 2023, with category chips showing where each theme appears. Select a theme to filter the patents below.
70 US filings (since 2023) · 12 categories · 23 themes
Techniques and methodologies for fabricating semiconductor devices, including etching, deposition, annealing, isolation, and doping steps, aimed at improving yield, performance, or enabling new structures.
Focuses on advanced pixel architectures, often involving vertical stacking (3D) or silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structures, to improve performance, density, or functionality of photodiodes, transistors, and floating diffusion regions within image sensor pixels.
Design and operation of transistors optimized for memory applications, including floating body devices, ferroelectric FETs (FeFETs), vertical TFTs for 3D arrays, and charge-trapping memory cells.
Focuses on the physical design, materials, and manufacturing processes for individual memory cells, including transistor structures, interconnects, and multi-layered (3D) architectures to enhance density and performance.
Development of memory cells utilizing resistive switching or phase-change materials, including novel material compositions, multi-layered structures, and integration with selector devices like bipolar junction transistors, to achieve non-volatile storage.
Layout, material composition, and structural arrangement of photoelectric conversion elements and associated circuitry within image sensor arrays, including infrared detectors and back-side illuminated structures.
Computational methods for modeling and simulating photolithography processes, including mask design, aerial image generation, and defect prediction for semiconductor manufacturing.
Advanced techniques for forming and optimizing gate dielectrics, work function layers, and other dielectric layers within transistor structures to improve performance, reliability, and scaling.
Techniques and apparatus for electrically testing semiconductor devices, integrated circuits, or wafers during manufacturing or post-assembly, including built-in self-test (BIST) and contact reliability assessment.
Techniques for precise material removal, pattern shaping, and controlling etch selectivity or uniformity, often involving plasma, wet chemistry, or directed beams to achieve desired features on semiconductor substrates.
Methods and equipment for applying photoresist uniformly onto wafers, forming patterns through various exposure techniques (e.g., direct imaging, multi-exposure), and integrating patterned layers into semiconductor structures or packaging.
Digital logic and control circuits for managing power delivery, driving various loads (e.g., inductive, display elements), converting power, and protecting against over-voltage or electrostatic discharge. Includes gate drivers for power FETs and voltage level shifters.
Techniques and apparatus for measuring critical dimensions, overlay accuracy, defect detection, and surface topography in lithographic processes, often involving optical, laser, or charged particle beams.
Image sensors tailored for specific advanced functionalities beyond basic image capture, such as high dynamic range (HDR) imaging, single-photon detection, auto-focus, or distance measurement (LiDAR), often incorporating specialized pixel designs or processing.
Manufacturing processes and structural designs for transistors utilizing fin-shaped channels or multiple gates (e.g., FinFETs, Gate-All-Around FETs) to enhance gate control and reduce short-channel effects.
Focuses on novel semiconductor materials, heterostructures, and doping profiles to improve photovoltaic conversion efficiency, stability, and spectral response.
Structural innovations in individual transistors, such as fin-based field-effect transistors (FinFETs), 3D gate structures, or multi-layer active regions, aimed at improving performance or density.
Systems and methods for automated substrate transport, precise positioning, temperature regulation, and chamber environment management to ensure process stability, uniformity, and yield in semiconductor manufacturing.
Innovations in the design, materials, and manufacturing of lithography masks, including reflective masks, programmable masks, and defect mitigation strategies, to enable finer feature patterning and process control.
Specialized cleaning techniques and apparatus designed for removing microscopic contaminants, residues, or films from sensitive substrates, such as semiconductor wafers or flat panel displays, often involving chemical, mechanical, or plasma-based methods.
Techniques for designing and fabricating the conductive pathways (interconnects) and their contacts between different components within an integrated circuit, focusing on density, reliability, and performance.
Techniques for forming electrical contacts, vias, and interconnects to semiconductor devices, including advanced methods like contact-over-active-gate (COAG) and backside contacts for improved density and performance.
The design and manufacturing of integrated circuits that combine optical and electronic components, particularly for high-speed data communication between processors and memory.
Patents
Showing 1-10 of 15
Image Sensor Pixel & Array Design