Silicon wafer supplier okmetic expands its RFSi™ portfolio with tailored silicon substrate for thin film surface acoustic wave hybrid structures

The Game-Changing Technology Combines Low-Loss Crystal Material and Engineered Films to Create the Industry’s First Wafer with Ultra-Flat Properties

Okmetic, the supplier of advanced silicon wafers for the manufacture of microelectromechanical systems and sensors, announced the release of UF-RFSi®, a tailored silicon substrate dedicated for thin film surface acoustic wave (TF-SAW) hybrid structures. As the industry’s first wafer with ultra-flat properties, UF-RFSi leverages Okmetic’s proprietary A-MCz®-silicon material technology to deliver improved technical performance with high resistivity, ultra-low loss radio frequency (RF) specifications.

Okmetic’s UF-RFSi® is a tailored silicon substrate dedicated for thin film surface acoustic wave hybrid structures.

For the last several years, Okmetic has been rapidly gaining market share as a specialty silicon wafer supplier among the industry’s RF manufacturers and is projected to almost double its RFSi™ wafer shipment volume in 2021. The newest member of Okmetic’s RFSi portfolio, UF-RFSi, embodies over 35 years of experience supplying specialty wafers for advanced RF applications and filters alongside wafers for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and sensors.

“The release of UF-RFSi is particularly exciting for us because it comes on the heels of Okmetic delivering its two millionth wafer to the RF market,” says Atte Haapalinna, chief technology officer of Okmetic. “After numerous customer requests, we are thrilled to introduce the industry’s first wafer with ultra-flat properties, optimized specifically for TF-SAW hybrid structures. This innovation enables customers to achieve the most challenging active layer geometries in a cost-effective manner. Additionally, the design flexibility makes the wafer a high performance and cost-effective solution for demanding filter and RF technology.”

The RFSi portfolio is a family of specialty wafers that reaches over 7,000 ohm-centimeters of bulk resistivities combined with advanced surface engineering. As the newest member of the RFSi portfolio, UF-RFSi features stable resistivity, low insertion loss and superior linearity performance when compared to competitive offerings. Building on decades of innovative substrate manufacturing expertise, the wafer delivers excellent RF performance with superior planarization efficiency to simplify the manufacturing of hybrid structures. Boasting a Total Thickness Variation (TTV) below 700 nanometers, the ultra-flat wafer can undergo a fully customizable wafering process, providing customers with tailored solutions and optimized configurations that meet their specific product, process and technology needs.