A surface acoustic wave device includes a piezoelectric substrate of a single crystal LiTaO3 and an electrode pattern provided on a surface of the piezoelectric substrate which forms a resonator having an electrode thickness in a range of about 1% to about 15% of an acoustic wavelength of a surface acoustic wave excited on the surface of the substrate. The piezoelectric substrate has an orientation defined by Euler angles (&lgr;, &mgr;, &thgr;), with angle &lgr; in a range from −4° to +4°, angle &mgr; in a range from about −52° to about −36°, and angle &thgr; in a range from about (−1.365 &lgr;−4)° to (−1.365 &lgr;+4)°. Such orientations simultaneously combined with an optimized propagation loss at resonant and anti-resonant frequencies provide for improved performance in RF applications.