Akoustis Technologies, a start-up based on single crystal bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filters, announced the company has received four foundational patents related to single crystal piezoelectric materials, novel BAW resonators, wide bandwidth RF filters and their application in mobile devices. In a press release, the company said the four patents, one awarded in the U.S. and three in China, "establish the foundation of key intellectual property (IP) covering use of single crystal BAW resonator technology in RF filters for the mobile wireless market."
The four patents are:
US Patent No. 9,362,887 – an integrated circuit configured with two or more single crystal acoustic resonators, resulting in a BAW RF filter for a communication, mobile or computing device.
China Patent No. ZL 201520549840.3 – wafer scale packaging for single crystal acoustic resonators and BAW RF filters.
China Patent No. ZL 201520566852.7 – a communication, mobile or computing device configured with single crystal acoustic resonators and BAW RF filters.
China Patent No. ZL 201520652061.6 – a membrane structure technique for the fabrication of single crystal acoustic resonators and BAW RF filters.
Commenting on the patent awards, Jeff Shealy, CEO of Akoustis, said, "Our innovative approach will allow us to differentiate and compete in the high band RF filter market for 4G/LTE mobile and, we believe, to dominate emerging 5G Wi-Fi and 5G mobile communications markets."
Akoustis has submitted additional U.S. and international patent applications to strengthen their IP position. The company also licensed exclusive IP rights related to single crystal technology from the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) and Cornell University.
Akoustic claims that single crystal BAW filters deliver better performance at higher frequencies than filters using polycrystalline piezoelectric material. At the 2016 International Microwave Symposium, the company presented a paper reporting what it said was record-breaking 12.5 percent K-squared performance from 3.4 GHz BAW devices constructed from undoped single crystal AlN.
Market research firm Mobile Experts estimates that the acoustic RF filter market will grow to $12.5 billion by 2020, driven by the increasing number of cellular and Wi-Fi frequency bands. Broadcom Ltd. and Qorvo are the primary manufacturers of BAW filters; both have been adding capacity to meet market demand.