Akoustis Awarded Phase 2 For DARPA COFFEE Program
Charlotte, N.C., Nov. 16, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Akoustis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKTS) (“Akoustis” or the “Company”), an integrated device manufacturer (IDM) of patented bulk acoustic wave (BAW) high-band RF filters for mobile and other wireless applications, announced that it has successfully completed Phase 1 of its contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to pursue new materials and device manufacturing methods that can scale its XBAW® technology to 18 GHz, and was awarded a new multi-year, multi-million dollar contract for Phase 2 of the DARPA COmpact Front-end Filters at the ElEment-level (COFFEE) program.
- An alternative approach to BAW frequency scaling is a simple overtone mode operation, but this severely degrades electromechanical coupling.
- In DARPA’s COFFEE program, Akoustis developed a novel technology (“XP3F”) to overcome trade-offs inherent in traditional BAW frequency scaling approaches.
- Akoustis plans to introduce XP3F filters and resonators that fully exploit the entire electromechanical coupling capability of the underlying piezoelectric material.
- Jeff Shealy, founder and CEO of Akoustis, stated, “The first phase of the COFFEE program has been a resounding success for Akoustis as we have been able to fully leverage the inherent advantages of single crystal materials to develop a superior technology over purely poly-crystal based technologies.” Mr. Shealy continued, “Through DARPA COFFEE, we successfully introduced a new method of BAW overtone operation that can maintain high Q-factor while mitigating the decrease in electromechanical coupling.