A decade of FBAR success and what is needed for another successful decade

Abstract

July 31st, 2001, Avago (then Agilent) shipped its first 25,000 FBAR duplexers (in tape & reel) for nCDMA mobile phones. The value proposition was size (relative to the ceramic duplexers used at that time). At the time, it was supposed that FBAR technology using AlN as the active piezo material would not last beyond a few years. SAW technology, already entrenched in the lower frequencies and with better economies of scale and lower technology barrier to commercialization should have quickly made FBAR a ‘short-lived’ technology. Although still a possibility, FBAR has persevered for over 10 years due to several reasons; high Q, small size, ability to form an all-silicon package (utilizing silicon-fab technology) and reliability. However, the next 10 years pose a challenge to FBAR and serious innovation is necessary so that a similar talk about the success of FBAR covering 20 years can be given. Innovation must cover the ability to go differential, temperature compensation, continued Q enhancement, and chip-scale packages to spread the cost of manufacturing and research. This talk will touch on each of these subjects as well as giving an overview of the unique set of circumstances that made FBAR as successful as it is.