– New 5.6 GHz Product is World’s Highest Frequency and Widest Bandwidth WiFi BAW Filter –
– Company Now Offers Industry’s Only Tandem 5.2/5.6 GHz BAW Coexistence Filter Solution –
– Challenging Filter Design Demonstrates Unique Capability of Company’s Patented XBAW Technology –
Charlotte, N.C., Dec. 03, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Akoustis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKTS) (“Akoustis” or the “Company”), a manufacturer of patented bulk acoustic wave (BAW) high-band RF filters for mobile and other wireless applications, announces the industry’s first 5.6 GHz WiFi BAW filter and shipment of first samples of the new product. The AKF-1256 is a high performance, high frequency coexistence filter that operates at 5.6 GHz in the unlicensed spectrum for high-speed WiFi.
When paired with the Company’s recently introduced AKF-1252, a high performance 5.2 GHz BAW RF filter, Akoustis now offers 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.
The Company has begun shipment of AKF-1256 samples to select customer engagements for evaluation and technical feedback. Akoustis intends to expand sampling to additional target customers, including OEMs, ODMs, SoC and RF module manufacturers in early calendar 2019.
Jeff Shealy, Founder and CEO of Akoustis, commented, “Now having the first and only tandem 5.2 GHz/5.6 GHz BAW micro-filter coexistence solution, we are positioned to disrupt the current dielectric resonator (DR) WiFi filter market. Based on feedback from companies that have sampled or evaluated our 5.2 GHz WiFi filter, we believe there is sizable demand for a BAW filter solution that covers both the 5.2 GHz and 5.6 GHz frequency bands. Our XBAW filters offer better coexistence performance with a form factor that is 23x smaller than the DR filters deployed today.”
Mr. Shealy continued, “The technical challenges in developing a 5.6 GHz BAW filter for WiFi cannot be overstated. With a passband more than 2 times wider than the 5.2 GHz band, our patented XBAW technology has demonstrated its unique capability to produce high performance BAW filters at frequencies previously unreachable with BAW filters, including sub-6 GHz frequencies aligned with the emerging 5G mobile frequency spectrum.”
The strategic highlights of the new AKF-1256, include:
- New solution enables tandem 5 GHz WiFi BAW filter solution for tri-band architectures
- The new AKF-1256 offers the same size advantage versus DR filters as the Company’s AKF-1252
- Filter performance further demonstrates the sub-6 GHz capability of the XBAW™ process
- XBAW™ technology compatible with future mobile handsets requiring tri-band and MU-MIMO designs
The AKF-1256 provides low insertion loss covering the U-NII-2C and U-NII-3 bands (mid-point – 5.66 GHz) and addresses the stringent rejection requirements enabling coexistence with the U-NII-1 and U-NII-2A bands. 5.6 GHz is a challenging band given the wide passband and the high operating frequency. By comparison, the 5.6 GHz WiFi pass band requires 345 MHz versus the narrower 5.2 GHz WiFi pass band of 160 MHz.
The AKF-1256 filter product features:
• Ultra small form factor 2mm x 2.5mm x 0.9mm
• Single ended Tx/Rx ports
• Ultra-wide passband covering 345 MHz
• High rejection enables coexistence with adjacent WiFi UNII bands
• High power rating, maximum +30dBm
• Low insertion loss passband filter
• Performance over -40C to +85C
• RoHS compliant, Pb-free package
For data sheet and sales inquiries, please contact sales@akoustis.com.
In September, Akoustis completed the final engineering modifications to its AKF-1252, the tandem filter product complementing the new AKF-1256. The Company has since received pre-production orders for the AKF-1252 from a multi-billion-dollar Tier 1 SoC vendor, as well as a distributor partner, both of which are expected to ship in the current quarter. Separately, Akoustis has shipped evaluation boards and individual AKF-1252 filters to more than a dozen potential customers, including the Tier 1 WiFi OEM announced last week.
The AKF-1252 and AKF-1256 are high performance 5.2 GHz BAW RF micro filters designed for use in tri-band WiFi router applications. The filters are produced using Akoustis’ proprietary XBAW manufacturing process, which delivers high performance RF filter solutions for frequencies up to 7 GHz to address critical RF filter requirements for existing and next generation communications applications, including the emerging 5G mobile network. The high power rating satisfies the demanding requirements of the latest WiFi standards including 802.11ax. The filter solution incorporates standard commercial module packaging and is compatible with high-volume, lead-free SMT soldering processes.
About Akoustis Technologies, Inc.
Akoustis® (www.akoustis.com) is a high-tech BAW RF filter solutions company that is pioneering next-generation materials science and MEMS wafer manufacturing to address the market requirements for improved RF filters – targeting higher bandwidth, higher operating frequencies and higher output power compared to incumbent polycrystalline BAW technology deployed today. The Company utilizes its proprietary XBAW manufacturing process to produce bulk acoustic wave RF filters for mobile and other wireless markets, which facilitate signal acquisition and accelerate band performance between the antenna and digital back end. Superior performance is driven by the significant advances of high-purity, single-crystal and associated piezoelectric materials and the resonator-filter process technology which drives electro-mechanical coupling and translates to wide filter bandwidth.
Akoustis plans to service the fast growing multi-billion-dollar RF filter market using its integrated design and manufacturing (IDM) business model. The Company owns and operates a 120,000 sq. ft. ISO-9001:2015 certified commercial wafer-manufacturing facility located in Canandaigua, NY, which includes a class 100 / class 1000 cleanroom facility – tooled for 150-mm diameter wafers – for the design, development, fabrication and packaging of RF filters, MEMS and other semiconductor devices. Akoustis Technologies, Inc. is headquartered in the Piedmont technology corridor near Charlotte, North Carolina.
Forward-Looking Statements
This document includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that are intended to be covered by the “safe harbor” created by those sections. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about our estimates, expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans or strategies for the future (including our possible future results of operations, business strategies, competitive position, potential growth opportunities, potential market opportunities and the effects of competition), and the assumptions underlying such statements. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts and typically are identified by use of terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “intend,” “forecast,” “seek,” “potential,” “continue” and similar words, although some forward-looking statements are expressed differently. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, these forward-looking statements are based on management’s current beliefs, expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated include, without limitation, risks relating to the results of our research and development activities, including uncertainties relating to semiconductor process manufacturing; the development of our XBAWTM technology and products presently under development and the anticipated timing of such development; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights that are valuable to our business, including patent and other intellectual property rights; our ability to successfully manufacture, market and sell products based on our technologies; the ability to achieve qualification of our products for commercial manufacturing in a timely manner and the size and growth of the potential markets for any products so qualified; the rate and degree of market acceptance of any of our products; our ability to raise funding to support operations and the continued development and qualification of our products and the technologies underlying them; and our ability to service our outstanding indebtedness. These and other risks and uncertainties are described in more detail in the Risk Factors and Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations sections of the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Considering these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking statements regarding future events and circumstances discussed in this document may not occur, and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The forward-looking statements included in this document speak only as of the date hereof and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update publicly or privately any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, for any reason after the date of this document to conform these statements to new information, actual results or to changes in our expectations.
CONTACT: Contact: COMPANY: Tom Sepenzis Akoustis Technologies Director of Investor Relations (980) 689-4961 tsepenzis@akoustis.com The Del Mar Consulting Group, Inc. Robert B. Prag, President 858-794-9500 bprag@delmarconsulting.com