Current applications and future trends for SAW in Asia

The authors review SAW (surface acoustic wave) applications which have a growing market and large future potential in Asia. One of the major markets is television-related products, such as stereo sound or bilingual TV sets, CATV (cable television) convertors, satellite TV tuners, and enhanced-definition TV sets. Another market is telecommunication systems, such as pagers, cordless phones, cellular phones, and home security. The latter market is expected to grow rapidly, because of the recent liberalization of the Japanese radio law. Japanese SAW device developments includes not only design technology but also material improvement. Attention is given to SAW substrates and device functions for these applications