Akoustis® Technologies Ships First BAW Filter Prototypes Operating above 3.5GHz

- Prototype Filters Shipped to $1 Billion+ Non-Mobile OEM Customer -

Charlotte, N.C., Aug. 16, 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 premium high-band BAW filter prototypes for a radar application to address challenging electrical and size requirements dictated by the military. These bandpass filters operate with a passband between 3.5GHz and 3.9GHz and were manufactured using its patented single-crystal BulkONE® technology in the Company’s NY wafer fabrication facility.

 

These high-band BAW filter prototypes achieve low insertion loss over the 100MHz passband with high out-of-band rejection greater than 40dB. The filters were assembled in a custom, small form-factor package that is 2.5mm x 2mm x 0.8mm – an 80% to 90% reduction in size when compared to conventional cavity or integrated passive devices (IPD) filters.

 

The filter prototypes were shipped to a well-established OEM specializing in non-mobile communication systems, with annual revenues of more than $1 Billion. Akoustis has invoiced this customer from an open purchase order it received and announced in December 2016. Akoustis was responsible for the design, fabrication, characterization and delivery of first articles, which could lead to a production ramp in 2018. 

 

Jeff Shealy, CEO of Akoustis, commented “These new BAW filters, which shipped to our second customer, allow system miniaturization and cost reduction by reducing the radar element footprint size.”  Mr. Shealy continued “The passband frequency above 3.5GHz is also synergistic with our ongoing filter development for high-growth markets, including 5G mobile, 5GHz WiFi router and CBRS - where BAW filters are expected to be unrivaled in performance and size.”

 

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; 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, except as required by law, 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. The materials do not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of any offer to buy, any securities of Akoustis, or any other entity whatsoever.  Any representation to the contrary by any party should be ignored.

 

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

bprag@delmarconsulting.com

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Source: Akoustis, Inc.