Charlotte, N.C., Sept. 06, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Akoustis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKTS) (“Akoustis” or the “Company”), a manufacturer of patented single-crystal BulkONE® bulk acoustic wave (BAW) high-band RF filters for mobile and other wireless applications, announced today its first shipment of 5.2 GHz BAW filter prototypes for 802.11ac Tri-Band WiFi Routers.
These initial prototypes were provided to several Tier 1 WiFi CPE and semiconductor companies for technical evaluation. Based on feedback from these prospective customers, Akoustis will utilize an iterative engineering process to modify the filter and provide updated samples later this year for consideration of design into 802.11ac Tri-Band WiFi Routers for both enterprise and retail applications. The Company expects to be first-to-market with 5.2GHz BAW filters and is preparing to release into commercial production during the first-half of calendar year 2018.
This is the third BAW filter prototype shipment that Akoustis has made in the past 30 days from its recently acquired NY Wafer Fab. Previously, Akoustis announced first shipment of high performance LTE-TDD Band 41, 2.6 GHz BAW RF filters prototypes that will satisfy the challenging filter requirements in the high growth 4G LTE mobile market in China, and separately announced first shipment of premium high-band BAW filter prototypes for a radar application that will operate with a passband between 3.5GHz and 3.9GHz
Jeff Shealy, CEO of Akoustis, commented, “Today’s announcement demonstrates the high frequency scalability of our patented single crystal technology with our first 5.2GHz packaged BAW RF filters for use in multi-user MIMO antenna systems. We expect to become the first merchant supplier of 5GHz WiFi BAW RF filter solutions to displace larger dielectric resonator filters deployed today.”
Mr. Shealy continued, “Our recent product prototype shipments of BAW filters ranging from 2.6GHz to 5.2GHz demonstrates the applicability of our high band RF filter technology for 4G LTE, emerging 5G and 5GHz WiFi applications. We are now focused on customer design engineering engagements, as well as technology and product qualification for high volume commercial manufacturing in first-half of calendar year 2018.”
Major WiFi CPE OEMs and chipset suppliers are releasing Tri-Band routers that split operation in three frequency bands which include 2.4GHz, 5.2GHz and 5.7GHz. Multiple User Multiple In/Multiple Out (MU-MIMO) is one of the key features introduced with 802.11ac Wave 2 and allows simultaneous data transmission to multiple Wave 2 devices, enabling networks to increase efficiency and device density of CPEs.
Akoustis’ patented single crystal BAW filter technology provides high selectivity, low passband insertion loss and high out of band attenuation that enables coexistence operation of 5.2GHz and 5.7GHz WiFi radios that address important Tri-Band WiFi Router filtering requirements. Akoustis’ BAW filter solution, which is one-fifth the size of dielectric resonator filters largely being utilized today in Tri-Band WiFi Router designs, promises improved performance and significant size reduction accommodating 8 MU-MIMO configurations which will require up to 24 filters per system.
Akoustis is pioneering next-generation material science 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. Superior performance is driven by the significant advances of high-purity, single-crystal piezoelectric materials and the resonator-filter process technology. The advanced material properties drive electro-mechanical coupling, which translates to wide filter bandwidth. High-band RF filters are achieved by leveraging the Company’s high-sound velocity, single-crystal piezoelectric materials. These single-crystal piezoelectric materials offer high-thermal conductivity along the path of heat flow, enabling high-power handling capability of the RF filter.
About Akoustis Technologies, Inc.
Akoustis® (http://www.akoustis.com) is a high-tech RF filter solutions company that designs and manufactures its unique, patented BulkONE® technology to produce single-crystal bulk acoustic wave (BAW) RF filters for mobile and other wireless markets, which facilitate signal acquisition and accelerate band performance between the antenna and digital back end. Its BulkONE® technology will service the fast growing multi-billion dollar market of device OEMs, network providers, and consumers to diminish Front End phone heat, battery drain and signal loss -- all considered to be directly related to current RF polycrystalline filter technologies' limitations. The Company owns and operates a 120,000 sq. ft. ISO-9001 certified commercial wafer-manufacturing facility located in Canandaigua, NY, which includes a class 100 / class 1000 cleanroom facility - tooled for 150-mm diameter - for the design, development, fabrication and packaging of RF filters, MEMS and semiconductor devices. Akoustis is headquartered in the Piedmont technology corridor near Charlotte North Carolina.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release that are not descriptions of historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about our plans, objectives, representations and contentions and are not historical facts and typically are identified by use of terms such as "may," "will," "should," "could," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue" and similar words, although some forward-looking statements are expressed differently. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current 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 early stage of our BulkONE® technology presently under 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 market and sell our technologies; the ability to achieve high volume manufacturing in the first-half calendar year 2018 and the size and growth of the potential markets for any of our technologies, and the rate and degree of market acceptance of any of our technologies. These and other risks and uncertainties, which are described in more detail in the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in other reports and statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking statements regarding future events and circumstances discussed in this press release 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 presentation speak only as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to update publicly or privately any forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this presentation to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations.
Akoustis Contact Information:
COMPANY:
Dave Aichele
Akoustis Technologies, Inc.
VP of Business Development
704-997-5735, ext. 106
daichele@akoustis.com
INVESTORS:
The Del Mar Consulting Group, Inc.
Robert B. Prag, President
858-794-9500