Murata has announced that it has developed and started volume production of the smallest SAW duplexers in the market today. The steady improvement in smartphone performance is driving the demand for more compact electronic components. In particular, there is an acute need for smaller SAW devices that transmit and receive signals at certain frequencies. In order to support multiple band operation, middle-class smartphones for specific regions use 14 or 15 SAW devices while premium models with global compatibility may adopt as many as 30 to 40 SAW devices. By fully revising the chip design and packaging approach making use of its own proprietary design and miniaturization technology, Murata has developed the Products with characteristics equal or superior to those of conventional products while simultaneously achieving the smallest size.
The key features of the Products are:
The SAYAV Series, SAYRV Series, and SAYAP Series of SAW duplexers supporting the 700 MHz to 2.6 GHz bands are packaged in 1.6 x 1.2 mm (length x width) form factor, and SAFFW Series of SAW filters are packaged in a 0.9 x 0.7 mm (length x width) form factor, making the duplexers approx. 24% and the filters approx. 37% smaller than conventional models (Compared with a 1.8 x 1.4 mm SAW duplexer and a 1.1 x 0.9 mm SAW filter, respectively). This makes possible significant reductions in mounting area on electronic circuits and contributes to high-density circuit design.
By leveraging its own design and miniaturization technology, Murata has achieved excellent characteristics while minimizing the degradation of characteristics associated with reduced size. The Products exhibit transmission and isolation characteristics equal or superior to those of conventional products. They are also among the first such products to realize improved power durability that meets the higher power requirements that will be required by future smartphones beginning with those being developed for use with the 5th generation mobile communications system (5G).
The lineup includes products compatible with the major frequency bands of the frequency band classification standard defined by the standardization organization 3GPP.
Lineup and supported frequency bands
Murata will expand this product lineup to support major communications bands between 700 MHz and 2.6 GHz by the end of FY2019. The company is also developing products compatible with the sub-6 GHz and the 3 GHz to 6 GHz bands that are expected to be used in 5G. Murata will continue developing smaller products that meet the needs of the market and of its customers, in order to contribute to saving space on electronic circuit boards and facilitating high-density circuit design.
In the communication environment based on the 4th generation mobile communications system (4G), the range of frequency bands that smartphones need to support has increased, while new wireless technologies designed to improve communications quality such as carrier aggregation and MIMO have been developed. Moreover, the full adoption of 5G is expected to lead to more complex RF circuits that will play a role in both transmission and receiver.
The Products are discrete devices equipped with a single duplexer or filter function. Premium smartphone models that are required to be compatible with a large number of frequency bands employ small modules that incorporate multiple SAW devices corresponding to different frequency bands in a single compact package. In future, Murata will work to further reduce the size of these modules by harnessing the proprietary design and miniaturization technology employed in the development the Products.
