Akoustis Technologies, an integrated device manufacturer (IDM) of patented bulk acoustic wave (BAW) high-band RF filters for mobile and other wireless applications, announced that it has received a development order for a Wi-Fi 6E diplexer from a tier-1 personal computing chipset maker. The diplexer will leverage Akoustis’ industry leading XBAW® Wi-Fi 6E filter technology with first samples expected to ship by Q1 calendar 2022.
The development of this new diplexer expands the Company’s high-performance Wi-Fi 6E product portfolio beyond discrete filter solutions by integrating two XBAW® filters which connect to a common antenna port. The diplexer will incorporate Akoustis’ new chip-scale-package (CSP) technology to deliver an ultra-small integrated module suitable for applications where size is a premium consideration.
A diplexer is a passive radio-frequency filter product that allows two distinct frequency bands, such as the 5 GHz and 6 GHz frequency bands in Wi-Fi 6E, to transmit and receive over the same antenna.
Jeff Shealy, Founder and CEO of Akoustis, said that the personal computing market is another significant opportunity for Akoustis as they are well positioned to meet the critical requirements including size reduction and spectrum selectivity for Wi-Fi 6E. This new customer provides significant validation for their XBAW® process and technology, and the development of a new diplexer is the first step in developing more complex and integrated modules for their customers using their patented and proprietary XBAW® process.
Akoustis is actively delivering volume production of its Wi-Fi 6 tandem filter solutions, shipping multiple 5G small cell XBAW® filter solutions, delivering initial designs of its new 5G mobile filter solutions to multiple customers and is now entering the market with its new Wi-Fi 6E coexistence XBAW® filter solutions.
Given the rapidly growing sales funnel activity, as well as ongoing interaction with customers regarding expected ramps in both 5G mobile and Wi-Fi 6E in calendar 2022, the Company plans to increase the annual production capacity at its New York fab by the end of calendar 2021 to approximately 500 million filters per year.
Akoustis currently has 15 commercial XBAW filters in its product catalog, and recently introduced 5.6 GHz and 6.6 GHz Wi-Fi 6E coexistence filter modules, which when qualified, will bring the number of catalog products to 17. Current product catalog filters include a 5.6 GHz Wi-Fi filter, a 5.2 GHz Wi-Fi filter, a 5.5 GHz Wi-Fi 6E filter, a 6.5 GHz Wi-Fi 6E filter, three small cell 5G network infrastructure filters including two Band n77 filters and one Band n79 filter, a 3.8 GHz filter and five S-Band filters for defense phased-array radar applications, a 3.6 GHz filter for the CBRS 5G infrastructure market and a C-Band filter for the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) market. The Company is also developing several new filters for the sub-7 GHz bands targeting 5G mobile device, network infrastructure, Wi-Fi CPE and defense markets.
