Akoustis Technologies has shipped samples of its new wideband 5.5 GHz XBAW™ filter module to Wi-Fi 6E SoC and OEM companies, according to the company.

The bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filter module, which will be offered as a standard product, is designed as a coexistence filter for the new 6 GHz Wi-Fi band. The passband covers the 5.1 to 5.8 GHz band with a fractional bandwidth of 12 percent, 665 MHz. Akoustis says the XBAW filter module is the widest bandwidth BAW filter on the market and outperforms LTCC and dielectric resonator filter technologies.

Performance Summary

• Wide 665 MHz passband covers the UNII 1, 2A, 2B, 2C, 3 and 4 bands.
• High out of band rejection enables coexistence with the adjacent 6 GHz Wi-Fi UNII 5 to 8 bands.
• 1 dB passband insertion loss.
• +30 dBm maximum input power.
• Fully-integrated module with 50 Ω single-ended Tx and Rx ports.
• 3.5 mm x 3.5 mm x 1.5 mm form factor.
• RoHS compliant, Pb-free package.
• −40°C to +85°C operating temperature range.

The 5.5 GHz filter is based on Akoustis’ patented XBAW process and manufactured in the company’s Si-MEMS wafer fab in Canandaigua, New York.

Akoustis is developing a complementary XBAW filter module for the 5.925 to 7.125 GHz extended Wi-Fi band, approved by the FCC in April — the largest spectrum addition since the FCC allocated unlicensed spectrum for Wi-Fi in 1989. Wi-Fi systems covering the extedned band are called Wi-Fi 6E.

Jeff Shealy, founder and CEO of Akoustis, said, “Akoustis continues its product leadership in high frequency 5 GHz BAW Wi-Fi filters with the introduction of the first 5.5 GHz XBAW filter for the emerging Wi-Fi 6E market. Combining this incredibly wide 665 MHz bandwidth filter module with our existing, first-to-market 5.2 and 5.6 GHz RF filters, Akoustis offers the most comprehensive BAW RF filter solution for the 5 GHz spectrum supporting Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E.”