A low-voltage ultra-wideband down-conversion mixer with improved power conversion gain

This article presents a wideband mixer using a TSMC 0.18?µm complementary metal-oxide semiconductor technology process for ultra-wideband (UWB) system applications. The measured 3-dB radio frequency (RF) bandwidth is from 3 to 8.4?GHz with an intermediate frequency of 10?MHz. The measurement results of the proposed mixer achieve 8.1?dB average power conversion gain ?5?dBm input third-order intercept point (IIP3) at 7.4?GHz and 12.4–13.3?dB double side band noise figure. The total dc power consumption of this mixer including output buffers is 3.18?mW from a 1?V supply voltage. The output current buffer consumption is about 2.26?mW with an excellent local oscillator-RF isolation of up to 40?dB at 5?GHz. The article presents a mixer topology that is greatly suitable for low-power operation in UWB system applications.     

Design and implementation of a 94 GHz CMOS down-conversion mixer with integrated miniature planar baluns for image radar sensors

A 94 GHz down-conversion mixer for image radar sensors using standard 90 nm CMOS technology is reported. The down-conversion mixer comprises a double-balanced Gilbert cell with peaking inductors between RF transconductance stage and LO switching transistors for conversion gain (CG) enhancement and noise figure suppression, a miniature planar balun for converting the single RF input signals to differential signals, another miniature planar balun for converting the single LO input signals to differential signals, and an IF amplifier. The mixer consumes 22.5 mW and achieves excellent RF-port input reflection coefficient of ?10 to ?35.9 dB for frequencies of 87.6–104.4 GHz, and LO-port input reflection coefficient of ?10 to ?31.9 dB for frequencies of 88.2–110 GHz. In addition, the mixer achieves CG of 4.9–7.9 dB for frequencies of 81.8–105.8 GHz (the corresponding 3-dB CG bandwidth is 24 GHz) and LO–RF isolation of 37.7–47.5 dB for frequencies of 80–110 GHz, one of the best CG and LO–RF isolation results ever reported for a down-conversion mixer with operation frequency around 94 GHz. Furthermore, the mixer achieves an excellent input third-order intercept point of ?3 dBm at 94 GHz. These results demonstrate the proposed down-conversion mixer architecture is promising for 94 GHz image radar sensors.     

A 90–96 GHz CMOS down-conversion mixer with high conversion gain and excellent LO–RF isolation

A 90–96 GHz down-conversion mixer for 94 GHz image radar sensors using standard 90 nm CMOS technology is reported. RF negative resistance compensation technique, i.e. NMOS LC-oscillator-based RF transconductance (GM) stage load, is used to increase the output impedance and suppress the feedback capacitance C_gd of RF GM stage. Hence, conversion gain (CG), noise figure (NF) and LO–RF isolation of the mixer can be enhanced. The mixer consumes 15 mW and achieves excellent RF-port input reflection coefficient of ?10 to ?36.4 dB for frequencies of 85–105 GHz. The corresponding -10 dB input matching bandwidth is 20 GHz. In addition, for frequencies of 90–96 GHz, the mixer achieves CG of 6.3–9 dB (the corresponding 3-dB CG bandwidth is greater than 6 GHz) and LO–RF isolation of 40–45.1 dB, one of the best CG and LO–RF isolation results ever reported for a down-conversion mixer with operation frequency around 94 GHz. Furthermore, the mixer achieves an excellent input third-order intercept point of 1 dBm at 94 GHz. These results demonstrate the proposed down-conversion mixer architecture is very promising for 94 GHz image radar sensors.     

A dual-band reconfigurable direct-conversion receiver RF front-end

6 dBm at 2.2 GHz, and a gain of 18.8 dB and IIP3 of 7.3 dBm at 4.5 GHz. The whole front-end consumes 12 mA current at 1.2 V voltage supply for the LNA and 2.1 mA current at 1.8 V for the mixer, with a die area of 1.2 × 1 mm2.     

An I/Q mixer with an integrated differential quadrature all-pass filter for on-chip quadrature LO signal generation

A down-conversion in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) mixer employing a folded-type topology, integrated with a passive differential quadrature all-pass filter (D-QAF), in order to realize the final down-conversion stage of a 60 GHz receiver architecture is presented in this work. Instead of employing conventional quadrature generation techniques such as a polyphase filter or a frequency divider for the local oscillator (LO) of the mixer, a passive D-QAF structure is employed. Fabricated in a 65 nm CMOS process, the mixer exhibits a voltage gain of 7-8 dB in an intermediate frequency (IF) band ranging from 10 MHz-1.75 GHz. A fixed LO frequency of 12 GHz is used to down-convert a radio frequency (RF) band of 10.25-13.75 GHz. The mixer displays a third order input referred intercept point (IIP₃) ranging from -8.75 to -7.37 dBm for a fixed IF frequency of 10 MHz and a minimum single-sideband noise figure (SSB-NF) of 11.3 dB. The mixer draws a current of 6 mA from a 1.2 V supply voltage dissipating a power of 7.2 mW.     

High IIP3 and Low-Noise CMOS Mixer Using Non-linear Feedback Technique

A third-order intermodulation cancelation technique using a non-linear feedback is proposed to design a low-power low-distortion mixer in a 65 nm standard CMOS technology. The IM3 cancelation is achieved by estimating distorting error at a non-linear feedback element and subtracting it from the input. The linearization technique is utilized in the input trans-conductance of the mixer. The circuit functionality is analyzed using Volterra series. The covering frequency range of the mixer is 800 MHz to 5 GHz. The technique increases the input-referred third-order intercept point (IIP3) and input 1 dB compression point to +16.4 dBm and −1.87 dBm, respectively. It obtains a gain of 9 dB and an input-referred noise of 1.84 nV/?{}/\sqrt{}Hz while consumes 8.75 mA from 1.2 V supply. The layout of the mixer occupies 0.315 mm × 0.296 mm of silicon area.     

Low-noise 320?360 GHz cryogenically cooled waveguide Schottky diode mixer

Construction details and results of noise measurements on a cryogenically cooled Schottky diode mixer for the 320?360 GHz range are given. Critical mixer parts are electro-formed or machined on a precision lathe. The system double-sideband noise temperature is close to 400 K over a 30 GHz range with a lowest temperature of 385 K at 335 GHz. The mixer uses a tunable contacting backshort and has a total RF/IF double-sideband conversion loss of about 6dB, including input lens and diplexer losses. Corrected for input losses and second-stage contribution, a mixer double-sideband noise temperature of 271 K has been calculated at 335 GHz. This mixer has shown reliable and reproducible performance during five cooldowns to 15 K.     

用于蓝牙收发机的低电压CMOS Gilbert混频器

对已报道的Gilbert混频器工作在低电压时存在的问题进行了分析,在此基础上,描述了利用改进的低电压设计技术,用于2.4GHz蓝牙收发机的上混频器/下混频器的设计.利用适用于低电压工作的负反馈与电流镜技术提高上混频器的线性度;而通过采用折叠级联输出,增加了低电压时下混频器的设计自由度,从而降低了噪声,提高了转换增益.基于0.35μm CMOS工艺技术,在2V电源电压下,对电路进行了仿真.结果表明:上混频器消耗的电流为3mA,输入三阶截距点达到20dBm,输出的信号幅度为87mV;下混频器消耗的电流为3.5mA,得到的转换增益是20dB,输入参考噪声电压是6.5nV/ Hz,输入三阶截距点为4.4dBm.     

A 60 GHz receiver front-end with PLL based phase controlled LO generation for phased-arrays

This paper presents a front-end architecture for fully integrated 60 GHz phased array receivers. It employs LO-path beamforming using a phase controlled phase-locked loop (PC-PLL). To demonstrate the architecture a circuit is implemented featuring a two stage low noise amplifier, two cascaded active mixers, and a PC-PLL. The receiver downconverts the 60 GHz signal in two steps, using LO signals from the 20 GHz QVCO of the PLL. A differential 2nd-order harmonic is coupled from the sources of the current commutating pairs of the QVCO, feeding the LO-port of the first mixer and downconverting the 60 GHz RF signal to a 20 GHz intermediate frequency. Quadrature 20 GHz LO signals are then used in the second mixer to down-convert the IF signal to baseband. The PLL is locked to a relatively high reference frequency, 1.25 GHz, which reduces the size of the PLL loop filter and enables a compact layout. The measurements show an input return loss better than ?10 dB between 57.5 and 60.8 GHz, a 15 dB voltage gain, and a 9 dB noise figure. Two-tone measurements show ?12.5 dBm IIP3, 29 dBm IIP2, and ?24 dBm ICP1. The PC-PLL phase noise is ?105 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset from a 20 GHz carrier, and the phase of the received 60 GHz signal is digitally controllable with a resolution of 3.2°, covering the full 360° range with a phase error smaller than 1°. The chip consumes 80 mA from a 1.2 V supply, and measures 1,400 μm × 660 μm (900 μm × 500 μm excluding pads) including LNAs, mixers, and PC-PLL in a 90 nm RF CMOS process.     

A low noise 230 GHz heterodyne receiver employing 0.25-μm2 area Nb-AlOx-Nb tunnel junctions

The authors report recent results for a full-height rectangular waveguide mixer with an integrated IF matching network. Two 0.25 μm ² Nb-AlO_x-Nb superconducting-insulating-superconducting (SIS) tunnel junctions with a current density of ≈8500 A/cm² and ωRC of ≈2.5 at 230 GHz have been tested. One of these quasiparticle tunnel junctions is currently being used at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory in Hawaii. Detailed measurement of the receiver noise have been made from 200-290 GHz for both junctions at 4.2 K. The lowest receiver noise temperatures were recorded at 239 GHz, measuring 48 K DSB at 4.2 K and 40 K DSB at 2.1 K. The 230-GHz receiver incorporates a one-octave-wide integrated low-pass filter and matching network which transforms the pumped IF junction impedance to 50 Ω over a wide range of impedances     

A Tuning Circuit with Two Half-Wave Distributed Junctions for All-NbN SIS Mixers

A novel broadband tuning circuit composed of two low-current-density half-wave NbN/MgO/NbN tunnel junctions connected by a half-wave NbN/MgO/NbN microstrip line has been successfully tested in a quasi-optical mixer at frequencies above 700 GHz. The circuit had a designed center frequency of 870 GHz, was integrated in a center-fed twin-slot antenna, and was fed via a quarter-wave impedance transformer. Heterodyne measurments showed double-side-band receiver noise temperatures equivalent to 6-9 quanta from 675 to 810 GHz for a mixer with a current density of 6.7 kA/cm². The RF bandwidth was broader than that of a conventional mixer using a full-wave junction with the same current density.     

基于AlN/GaN异质结的Ka波段GaN低噪声放大器研制

报道了基于AlN/GaN异质结的Ka波段低噪声放大器的研制结果.在SiC衬底上生长AlN/GaN异质结材料结构,采用电子束直写工艺制备了栅长70 nm的"T"型栅结构.器件最大电流密度为1.50 A/mm,最大跨导为650 mS/mm,通过S参数测试外推特征频率和最大频率分别为105 GHz和235 GHz.基于70 ...     

A Low-Power and High-Gain Mixer for UWB Systems

This letter presents a CMOS double-balanced direct-conversion mixer for ultra-wideband systems. The proposed mixer employs three techniques: the subthreshold operation of transistors for the radio frequency stage reduces current dissipation in the overall mixer, a local oscillation (LO) stage using an inverter lowers the required LO amplitude, and an active load improves conversion gain. The mixer was implemented using a 0.13 $mu{rm m}$ 1P8M CMOS process and was operated from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz. The measured results show a high conversion gain of 14.0 dB and a noise figure of 14.5 dB. In addition, the mixer performs with an input $IP_{3}$ of $-$ 11 dBm and a power dissipation of 1.85 mW from a 1.2 V supply.      

An Si-SiGe BiCMOS direct-conversion mixer with second-order and third-order nonlinearity cancellation for WCDMA applications

This paper presents a general analysis of the third-order nonlinearity of a differential common-emitter RF amplifier and an improved technique to cancel the third-order nonlinearity. A thorough analysis of the mechanisms leading to the second-order nonlinearity of bipolar double-balanced active mixers is also presented. An SiGe BiCMOS WCDMA direct-conversion mixer is designed based on the third- and the second-order cancellation schemes. The mixer achieves +6-dBm third-order input intercept point, +49-dBm second-order input intercept point, 16-dB gain and 7.2-dB double-sideband noise figure with only 2.2-mA current at 2.1 GHz.     

W-Band CMOS down-conversion mixer using micromixer-based gain-enhanced technique

We demonstrate a W-band down-conversion micromixer for imaging and gesture recognition transceiver. Micromixer-based gain-boosted technique, i.e. inductive-peaking gain-boosted single-to- differential transconductance (g_m) stage, is adopted to increase the output impedance and restrain the feedback capacitance C_gd of the g_m stage. This leads to the conversion gain (CG), noise figure (NF) and LO-to-RF leakage of the micromixer being significantly improved. The micromixer dissipates 7.2 mW and attains marvellous RF-port return loss of ?12.7~ ?14.7 dB for 85 ~ 110 GHz. That is, the ?10 dB matching bandwidth is wider than 25 GHz. Moreover, for 90 ~ 96 GHz, the micromixer attains CG of 10.5 ~ 12 dB and LO-to-RF isolation of 40.2 ~ 46.2 dB, one of the highest values ever demonstrated for a W-band mixer/micromixer. The 3 dB CG bandwidth is 22 GHz (83 ~ 105 GHz), and the input third-order intercept point (IIP3) is 1 dBm. These results indicate the micromixer is appropriate for W-band imaging and gesture recognition transceivers.     

Very low noise mixer at 115 GHz using a Mott diode cooled to 20 K

Measurements on a cooled resistive mixer are reported using a Mott-barrier diode cooled to 20 K, operating at 115 GHz and pumped with a local oscillator power as low as 150 ?W. The mixer noise temperature of 200 K is not only the lowest reported for a resistive mixer above 90 GHz but indicates that some improvement in shot-noise models for resistive mixers is desirable.     

High-performance 94-GHz single balanced mixer using 70-nm MHEMTs and surface micromachined technology

We reported 94-GHz, low conversion loss, and high isolation single balanced active gate mixer based on 70-nm gate length InGaAs/InAlAs metamorphic high-electron mobility transistors (MHEMTs). This mixer showed that the conversion loss and isolation characteristics were 2.5/spl sim/3.5 dB and under -29 dB in the range of 92.95/spl sim/94.5 GHz, respectively. The low conversion loss of the mixer is mainly attributed to the high-performance of the MHEMTs exhibiting a maximum drain current density of 607 mA/mm, an extrinsic transconductance of 1015 mS/mm, a current gain cutoff frequency (f/sub t/) of 330 GHz, and a maximum oscillation frequency (f/sub max/) of 425 GHz. High isolation characteristics are due to hybrid ring coupler which adopted dielectric-supported air-gapped microstrip line structure using surface micromachined technology. To our knowledge, these results are the best performance demonstrated from 94 GHz single balanced mixer utilizing GaAs-based HEMTs in terms of conversion loss as well as isolation characteristics.     

A 25–75 GHz Broadband Gilbert-Cell Mixer Using 90-nm CMOS Technology

A compact and broadband 25-75-GHz fully integrated double-balance Gilbert-cell mixer using 90-nm standard mixed-signal/radio frequency (RF) CMOS technology is presented in this letter. A broadband matching network, LC ladder, for Gilbert-cell mixer transconductance stage design is introduced to achieve the flatness of conversion gain and good RF port impedance match over broad bandwidth. This Gilbert-cell mixer exhibits 3plusmn2dB measured conversion gain (to 50-Omega load) from 25 to 75GHz with a compact chip size of 0.30mm². The OP_{1 dB} of the mixer is 1dBm and -4dBm at 40 and 60GHz, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this monolithic microwave integrated circuit is the highest frequency CMOS Gilbert-cell mixer to date     

Low noise single-ended mixer for 230 GHz

Performance of a single-ended fundamental frequency diode mixer, designed for cooled operation in the frequency range 190?260 GHz, is reported. At 230 GHz the best single sideband (SSB) mixer temperature obtained was 300 K, when the mixer was cooled to 20 K, with a corresponding SSB conversion loss of 5.9 dB. The significant improvement compared to previously reported results is attributed to the novel mixer mount design and to the optimum empirical choice of diode electrical parameters.     

Broadband single- and double-balanced resistive HEMT monolithicmixers

A double-balanced (DB) 3-18 GHz and a single-balanced (SB) 2-16 GHz resistive HEMT monolithic mixer have been successfully developed. The DB mixer consists of a AlGaAs/InGaAs HEMT quad, an active LO balun, and two passive baluns for RF and IF. At 16 dBm LO power, this mixer achieves the conversion losses of 7.5-9 dB for 4-13 GHz RF and 7.5-11 dB for 3-18 GHz RF. The SB mixer consists of a pair of AlGaAs/InGaAs HEMT's, an active LO balun, a passive IF balun and a passive RF power divider. At 16 dBm LO power, this mixer achieves the conversion losses of 8-10 dB for 4-15 GHz RF and 8-11 dB for 2-16 GHz RF. The simulated conversion losses of both mixers are very much in agreement with the measured results. Also, the DB mixer achieves a third-order input intercept (IP₃) of +19.5 to +27.5 dBm for a 7-18 GHz RF and 1 GHz IF at a LO drive of 16 dBm while the SB mixer achieves an input IP ₃ of +20 to +28.5 dBm for 2 to 16 GHz RF and 1 GHz IF at a 16 dBm LO power. The bandwidth of the RF and LO frequencies are approximately 6:1 for the DB mixer and 8:1 for the SB mixer. The DB mixer of this work is believed to be the first reported DB resistive HEMT MMIC mixer covering such a broad bandwidth