Akoustis Announces Industry's First Commercial 5.2 GHz BAW RF Filter

Akoustis’ First Commercial Product Reduces Size by 80% and Offers Superior Performance Over Existing 5 GHz Dielectric Filter Technologies

Charlotte, NC (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Akoustis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKTS) (“Akoustis” or the “Company”), a manufacturer of patented single-crystal bulk acoustic wave (BAW) high-band RF filters for mobile and other wireless applications, announced today that the Company is introducing its first commercial product, the AKF-1252, the industry’s first co-existence BAW RF filter in the 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum. Akoustis expects to sample multiple Tier 1 WiFi tri-band OEMs and multiple Tier 1 semiconductor companies.

The AKF-1252 is a high performance, ultra-small passband 5.2 GHz BAW RF filter designed for use in tri-band WiFi router applications. The filters are produced using Akoustis’ new proprietary XB1 single-crystal BAW manufacturing process, which delivers high-performance RF filter solutions for frequencies up to 7 GHz. The AKF-1252 provides low insertion loss covering U-NII-1 and U-NII-2A bands and meets the stringent rejection requirements enabling coexistence with U-NII-2C and U-NII-3 bands. The high-power rating satisfies the demanding requirements of the latest WiFi standards including 802.11ac. The filter solution incorporates standard commercial module packaging and is compatible with high-volume, lead-free SMT soldering processes.

The AKF-1252 Filter Features:

• High frequency operation at 5.2 GHz
• Wide bandwidth covering both U-NII-1 and U-NII-2A
• Low insertion loss (~2dB) in both U-NII-1 and U-NII-2A passband
• High power rating with +32dBm maximum
• High rejection with >50dB enabling coexistence with adjacent U-NII-2C + U-NII-3 bands
• Single-ended 50-Ohm Ant, Tx/Rx ports
• Ultra-small form factor packaged module at 2mm x 2.5mm x 0.9mm
• Operating temperature ranges from -40C to +85C

Jeff Shealy, Founder & CEO of Akoustis, said, “After four years of development, we are excited to announce our first commercial product in the fast-growing, multi-billion dollar BAW RF filter market. Operating at 5.2 GHz, our first product demonstrates the capability of our patented single crystal materials technology to produce BAW RF filters at frequencies well above existing commercially available products. It further demonstrates the ability of our core technology to reach frequency bands up to 7 GHz to address critical RF filter requirements for existing and next generation communications applications, including the emerging 5G mobile network.”

The Company’s XB1 process supports a wide range of spectrum up to 7 GHz, covering the entire unlicensed WiFi spectrum, 4G LTE and emerging 5G cellular and C-V2X applications. 5 GHz WiFi is one of the first target markets for Akoustis given the significant size and performance advantages compared to incumbent dielectric filters.

Dave Aichele, VP of Business Development, stated, “The AKF-1252 is the industry’s first 5.2 GHz BAW RF filter that delivers world-class insertion loss and power handling in a form factor 23 times smaller than existing dielectric resonator technologies. Our performance and size advantages are unmatched by any other competitor in the market, giving us a significant opportunity in 5 GHz WiFi co-existence filters.”

Major WiFi CPE OEMs and chipset suppliers are releasing Tri-Band routers that split operation in three frequency bands which include 2.4 GHz, 5.2 GHz and 5.7 GHz. 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. The AKF-1252 will support the demanding MU-MIMO, bandwidth and power requirements in newly introduced 802.11ac enabled WiFi products. Companies that are interested in evaluating the AKF-1252 should contact Akoustis at sales@akoustis.com.

Akoustis is pioneering next-generation materials 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 materials offer high-thermal conductivity along the path of heat flow, enabling high-power handling capability of the RF filter. The Company has announced four customer engagements for its premium high band BAW RF filters in frequencies ranging from 1.5 GHz to 5.2 GHz and remains focused on time to revenue. The Company targets its first design win by the end of June 2018, with shipments to commence in the second half of the calendar year.

About Akoustis Technologies, Inc.

Akoustis® (http://www.akoustis.com) is a high-tech BAW RF filter solutions company that utilizes its proprietary XB1 single-crystal BAW manufacturing process 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. The Company plans to 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-9001:2015 certified commercial wafer-manufacturing facility located in Canandaigua, NY, which includes a class 100 / class 1000 cleanroom facility - tooled for 150-mm diameter wafers - 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 and products 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 products based on our technologies; the ability to achieve qualification of our products for commercial manufacturing in a timely manner and the size and growth of the potential markets for any products so qualified; the rate and degree of market acceptance of any of our products; and our ability to raise funding to support operations and the continued development and qualification of our products and the technologies underlying them. 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.

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