my country’s lithium tantalate production strength is gradually increasing. SAW filters are an important downstream market.

Lithium tantalate, whose chemical formula is LiTaO3, or LT for short, appears as colorless crystals and belongs to the trigonal crystal system. Lithium tantalate has good mechanical properties and excellent piezoelectric, ferroelectric, electro-optic, acousto-optic, and pyroelectric effects. It is an important crystal material and can be used as piezoelectric crystals, electro-optic crystals, acousto-optic crystals, and non-metallic crystals. Linear optical crystals, birefringent crystals, etc. are widely used in the electronic information industry.

As a crystal material, lithium tantalate can be used to manufacture filters, resonators, Q-switches, pyroelectric detectors and other products, and is widely used in communications, electronics, laser and other industries. The main use of lithium tantalate is piezoelectric crystals. Piezoelectric crystals are important raw materials for manufacturing filters. Under the action of electrical signals, piezoelectric crystals will deform to generate sound waves, converting electrical signals into acoustic signals. As a piezoelectric crystal, lithium tantalate has the advantages of fast reaction speed, low temperature coefficient, and good thermal stability. It is an important material for manufacturing high-performance surface acoustic wave filters (SAW filters).

According to the “In-depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestions Report on Lithium Tantalate Industry 2021-2025” released by the Industrial Research Center, in 2020 In 2020, the global lithium tantalate market size was approximately 1.13 billion yuan. It is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of approximately 2.4% from 2020 to 2025, and the market size will reach approximately 1.27 billion yuan by 2025. SAW filters are the largest downstream market for lithium tantalate. In my country, the piezoelectric crystal market for SAW filters will be approximately 980 million yuan in 2020, showing continued growth. It can be seen from this that the future development prospects of the lithium tantalate industry are good.

Globally, the leading manufacturers of piezoelectric crystals are mainly concentrated in Japan, with Shin-Etsu Chemical, Sumitomo and others monopolizing the global high-end lithium tantalate market. At the same time, Japan is also the world’s leading SAW filter producer, with Murata, TDK, etc. accounting for a large share of the global market. In order to meet the product upgrade requirements of downstream enterprises, the pace of R&D and innovation in Japan’s lithium tantalate industry has continued to accelerate, and it is the first to achieve mass production of 6-inch lithium tantalate crystals. Overall, Japan’s lithium tantalate industry is highly competitive.

The strength of my country’s SAW filter industry is far behind that of Japanese companies. The domestic market has always been monopolized by Japanese companies. my country has become the world’s largest smartphone producer, the 5G industry is developing rapidly, and the domestic market has strong demand for SAW filters. The production strength of my country’s SAW filter companies continues to increase. Due to the impact of the epidemic and trade frictions, the supply of SAW filters exceeds demand. In the future, the share of domestic SAW filters in the mid-to-low-end market is expected to continue to increase, which will drive the rapid growth of demand for lithium tantalate.

Industry analysts said that my country’s piezoelectric crystal industry also has insufficient research and development capabilities and is highly dependent on external markets for market demand. In order to support the development of downstream industries, my country’s lithium tantalate research and production capabilities have gradually increased. In the Chinese market, the main manufacturers of lithium tantalate are Tiantong Co., Ltd., Deqing Huaying, etc. Tiantong Co., Ltd. is a leading company in my country’s piezoelectric crystal industry. It has independently developed crystal growth equipment, and its mass production yield of lithium tantalate is close to the level of Japan’s Sumitomo. As the market share of domestic SAW filters continues to increase, the market space of leading lithium tantalate manufacturers will continue to increase in the future.