Resonant, a leader in transforming the way radio frequency, or RF, front-ends are being designed and delivered for mobile handsets and wireless devices, has announced that its patented 5G XBAR filters, for non-mobile applications have been successfully manufactured by two different foundry partners using a standard surface acoustic wave (SAW) front end process.
Resonant’s unique ability to manufacture a complex 5G filter on a SAW front end process was made possible by the company’s EDA multi-physics (software) platform, Infinite Synthesized Networks. Both foundry partners manufactured Resonant’s XBAR filter, which was designed for the non-mobile n79 5G band, which pertains to applications such as infrastructure, WiFi CPE, and automotive, among others. To date, six separate foundries have now successfully manufactured Resonant’s XBAR filters. Resonant’s XBAR filters have previously been manufactured on a MEMs process line, as utilized by Resonant’s industry-leading partner Teledyne. The collaboration with Teledyne continues as we expand the capabilities of the non-mobile XBAR technology.
According to Yole Development, the processes that SAW foundries utilize are widely recognized as the cheapest, easiest, fastest, and highest volume production method available for acoustic filters in today’s growing $15 billion filter market. The simplicity of the SAW manufacturing process generally experiences higher yields, cheaper material costs, fewer manufacturing steps, and therefore, reduced time-to-market than required by the bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filte manufacturing process, whether industry-standard poly-crystalline or new single-crystalline structures.
This technological breakthrough which for the first time demonstrates the production of high-performance 5G filters on a standard, off the shelf SAW front end process fundamentally validates Resonant’s ability to produce filters faster, better, and cheaper. The ISN software platform has allowed them to crack the code of complex filter technology while using only proven, high-volume manufacturing processes as opposed to traditional BAW foundry processes which are more complex and expensive than SAW processes.
Key features of Resonant XBAR filters:
- The n79 band XBAR filters manufactured demonstrate minimum insertion loss of <1 dB, 600 MHz bandwidth from 4400–5000 MHz (>12% fractional bandwidth) bandwidth, and high rejection, resulting in superior full bandwidth performance, maximizing data speed by minimizing signal loss and interference, an additional benefit being longer battery life.
- Resonant believes that XBAR is the only available RF filter technology that can innately or natively meet the complex requirements for bandwidth and performance demanded by 5G applications.
- Besides, this breakthrough showcases that Resonant’s high performance, high frequency, and wide bandwidth XBAR technology can, for the first time, be produced on a basic, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) SAW process.
- The partners that manufactured the n79 band XBAR filters were both parts of the Resonant Foundry Program, and the results closely mirrored the simulations performed in Resonant’s proprietary ISN software platform.
This milestone will pave the way towards high-volume commercialization of this patented XBAR filter technology for non-mobile applications, while driving continuous innovation and creating unmatched, high-performance filter designs to meet the unique demands of true 5G.
Click here to learn more about XBAR filters for 5G.
