Benzinga | Oct 27, 2020 07:21AM EDT

Akoustis Awarded New DARPA Contract To Advance XBAW Technology; Terms Not Disclosed

-- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Is the Premier Government Agency Making Pivotal Investments in Breakthrough Technologies for National Security --

-- Direct-to-Phase-2 Program to Facilitate MEMS Development, Produce Novel Piezoelectric Materials and Device Designs for Commercial and Defense Markets --

Charlotte, N.C., Oct. 27, 2020 (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 today that it has been awarded a new, multi-year direct-to-phase 2 (DP2) contract from DARPA to further develop Akoustis' technology through the development of a Piezo MEMS process design kit (PDK) for the Company's proprietary and patented XBAW(tm) process.

The DP2 program of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract will be dedicated to developing a general purpose PDK that will enable BAW and other similar MEMS structures to be designed and fabricated using the Company's state-of-the-art XBAW(tm) process. The proposed Piezo MEMS PDK will encompass all aspects of the Company's process technology ranging from material properties, process rules for stack dimensions, process control monitoring, design rule checking, and example device models.

Upon successful completion of the DP2 program, DARPA may choose an option to fund a phase 3 program. This option supports multiple customer engagements leveraging the new PDK to create devices and circuits, including RF filters, using the Company's XBAW(tm) process.

Jeff Shealy, Founder and CEO of Akoustis, stated, "We are honored to receive this contract award from DARPA to further develop the XBAW(tm) platform and expand the reach of our technology to facilitate new customers." Mr. Shealy continued, "This will greatly expand the opportunities for XBAW(tm) moving forward as other designers will be able to develop new products utilizing novel piezoelectric materials and substrates outside of our current targets, which could lead to new opportunities in adjacent fast growing markets."

Akoustis' high frequency, high performance XBAW(tm) process and filters are experiencing growing interest as the Company has entered production in multiple markets in calendar 2020, including 5G network infrastructure, high-band WiFi and phased-array radar applications.

Akoustis has added 15 filters to its product catalog including a 5.6 GHz WiFi filter, a 5.2 GHz WiFi filter, a 5.5 GHz WiFi-6E filter, a 6.5 GHz WiFi 6E filter, three small cell 5G network infrastructure filters including two Band n77 filters and one Band n79 filter, a 3.8 GHz filter and five S-Band filters for defense phased-array radar applications, a 3.6 GHz filter for the CBRS 5G infrastructure market and a C-Band filter for the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) market. The Company is also developing several new filters for the sub-7 GHz bands targeting 5G mobile device, network infrastructure, WiFi CPE and defense markets.