High Frequency, High-Q Miniature Resonator and Filter Technologies

Surface (SAW) and Bulk (BAW) acoustic wave filters form the basis of frequency control in cellular handsets.  As commercial wireless systems scale to frequencies beyond the sub-6GHz 5G bands, the loss, selectivity, and power handling of these traditional acoustic resonator based filters unacceptably degrades. This talk will discuss emerging approaches for realizing miniature, high performance filters in X/Ku/K bands (8-27 GHz). We will begin by discussing the fundamental mechanisms degrading acoustic resonator and filter performance when scaling to X-band frequencies and beyond. Emerging acoustic resonator materials and device structures amenable to frequency scaling will be presented and compared to traditional approaches. The current limits and future prospects for these frequency scaling approaches will also be discussed. Finally, we will explore magnetostatic wave resonator technology as an alternative approach for realizing high performance filters in X and Ku bands.