Akoustis Technologies has announced the release of the second iteration of its 5.6 GHz XBAW WiFi filter and a pre-production order for it from a current global RF customer. The second iteration of the 5.6 GHz filter offers superior performance including lower loss and improved rejection of unwanted WiFi signals. Furthermore, the latest iteration simplifies the chip complexity and shares the same XBAW wafer process, backend package and supply chain as the Company’s 5.2 GHz WiFi filter currently in pre-production.
According to an executive from the Akoustis’ global RF customer, the XBAW technology has been outstanding, even as compared with other BAW and FBAR in the industry.
Akoustis’ believe that the XBAW technology is the leading filter technology for the high-frequency WiFi bands and 5G mobile applications. They feel the technology is better than BAW and FBAR. If this technology is adopted we should see significant growth over the next several years.
Akoustis began sampling the second iteration of its 5.6 GHz WiFi filter earlier this quarter and expects to offer samples to more than twenty OEM, ODM, SoC and RFFE companies currently evaluating Akoustis’ 5.2 GHz WiFi filter. The company expects to offer the first tandem BAW coexistence filter solution covering both the 5.2 GHz and 5.6 GHz frequency bands in a tri-band WiFi router. It had previously announced a pre-production order and shipment of 5.2 GHz WiFi filters to this global RF customer in the March 2019 quarter. That same order included greater than 50,000 pre-production 5.6 GHz WiFi filters, which Akoustis expects to deliver in the current quarter.
According to Jeff Shealy, Founder and CEO of Akoustis, the new filter represents a significant advancement for Akoustis as they now have the world’s first micro-filter tandem solution targeting both 5 GHz WiFi bands. Customers can now replace existing filter technology with a solution that is up to 23 times smaller, driving far more competitive form factors and allowing more complex MU-MIMO architectures. The 5.6 GHz filter is packaged with an identical footprint as the existing 5.2 GHz filter and uses the same supply chain, which should accelerate the evaluation process for the customers sampling the XBAW WiFi filters.
Akoustis began sampling its first generation 5.6 GHz XBAW WiFi co-existence filter in December 2018. Initial samples were sent to a limited number of potential customers for evaluation and technical feedback. Over the past few months, Akoustis has been engaged in internal engineering efforts to incorporate customer feedback into the new 5.6 GHz filter product design.
The 5.6 GHz XBAW WiFi filter features:
- Low insertion loss pass-band filter
- Wide bandwidth with 345 MHz pass-band
- High rejection enables co-existence with adjacent WiFi UNII bands
- Single ended Tx/Rx ports
- High power rating, maximum +30dBm
- Ultra small form factor 2.5mm x 2.0mm x 0.9mm
- Performance over -40C to +85C
- RoHS compliant, Pb-free package
The 5.6 GHz filter is designed and manufactured using the Company’s patented XBAW process and manufactured in the Company’s Si-MEMS Wafer Fab located in Canandaigua, NY. Akoustis has introduced several new filters over the past twelve months including a 5.6 GHz filter, a 5.2 GHz WiFi filter, a 3.8 GHz filter for military phased-array radar applications, a 3.6 GHz filter for the CBRS infrastructure market and Band 25 downlink and uplink filters for LTE infrastructure. It is also developing several new filters for the sub 7 GHz bands targeting 5G mobile device, network infrastructure, WiFi CPE and military markets.
