Tenders Are Invited For High Frequency Miniature Acoustic Filters

Tenders are invited for HIGH FREQUENCY MINIATURE ACOUSTIC FILTERS FOR COMMUNICATION PAYLOADS (ARTES AT 5C.538) - EXPRO+ Tender Action Number: 1-13369 Activity Number: 1000045265 Clarification Request Deadline 01/07/2026 13:00 CET Closing Date Extension Request Deadline 01/07/2026 13:00 CET Announcement Date 18/03/2026 Last Update On 17/04/2026 14:29 CET Update Reason Tender Action Issued Objective: The objective of this activity is to develop, manufacture and test miniaturised high frequency acoustic filters engineering models up to Ku-band.Targeted Improvements: Reduction of the size and mass with at least a factor of 10 compared with state-of-the art on-board technologies.Description: The market is continuously requesting mass and volume reduction improvements in payload technology. However, current state of the art electromagnetic (EM) resonator filter technologies, such as cavity and planar filters, all bulky and are reaching their limitation in terms of compactness. The introduction of acoustic wave filter technology has the potential to overcome these limitations, and the reduction in size and mass will enable integration into the payload receivers and frequency converters. In addition, the technologycan also offer semiconductor compatibility, enabling high integration of RF front ends. Currently, standard acoustic filter technology is limited up to S-band frequency capability, which prevents its wider use in telecommunication payloads equipment. The worldwide explosion in mobile smartphone usage has been enabled by the development of piezoelectricity-based acoustic wave resonators and filters. Various technical advances are ongoing in the frame of 5G/6G terrestrialinfrastructure applications. Recent developments in advanced engineered substrates such guided surface acoustic wave (SAW) and single crystal eXtended Bulk Acoustic Wave (XBAW), open the possibility of developing high performance and medium frequency filter components. Bulk Acoustic Resonator (BAR) technology has emerged during recent years where filters in the C-band has been demonstrated, and the quality of thin piezoelectric plates has improved. BAR devices offer high Q-values with a small size/footprint with critical dimension of the metallisation pattern not necessarily limited to the acoustic wavelength. This enables BAR devices in the C-band andbeyond.This activity will develop, manufacture and test engineering model acoustic wave-based filters up to Ku-band, for integration in telecom payloads. Suitable packaging technologies will also be assessed. The performance will be quantified by testing at wafer and packaged device levels under representative environment. Read less Directorate Dir. of Connectivity Secure Comm. Estabilishment ESTEC Open Date 17/04/2026 14:29 CET Closing Date 15/07/2026 13:00 CET ECOS Required No Classified No Price Range > 500 KEURO Authorised Contact Person Nathalie Dorval Initiating Service CSC-STS IP Measure N/A Prog. Reference E/0534-01K - IC1 - Advanced Techn Tender Type Open Competition Open To Tenderers From AT+BE+CA+CH+CY+CZ+DE+DK+GR+ES+FI+FR+GB+HU+IE+IT+LU+NL+NO+PL+PT+SE Technology Keywords 6-E-III-RF Active and Passive Devices Products Keywords Tender Link : https://esastar-publication-ext.sso.esa.int/ESATenderActions/filter/open