The Economic Future of Surface Acoustic Wave Devices

Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) devices are now being manufactured for use in a number of electronic systerns, both military and commercial. The advantages of these devices include size, reproducibility, and new function capability. Reliability has not yet really been established nor has cost proven to be low. These devices are established, but the present and predicted market has been exaggerated. The eventual size of the SAW market will be due to a mix of one-of-a-kind high technology devices, moderate volume devices for the military market, and medium volume commercial devices. We conclude that the SAW device supplier will have to be versatile enough to provide a variety of devices including delay lines, matched filters, and bandpass filters ar various production levels with very Iittle high volume business.