Broadband SiGe HBT Gilbert downconverter with 1.8 to 36 GHz integrated dual Marchand balun

A broadband Gilbert downconverter with an integrated dual Marchand balun (balanced to unbalanced transformer) is demonstrated by using 0.35 m SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) technology. A dual Marchand balun consisting of a lower band balun and an upper band balun is employed in the LO stage of the downconverter to maintain balanced LO signals from 1.8 to 36 GHz. The broadband downconverter has peak conversion gain of 3 dB at RF 3 GHz and 3 dB bandwidth of 1.8 to 20 GHz at 3.3 V DC supply.     

Compact 28-GHz subharmonically pumped resistive mixer MMIC using a lumped-element high-pass/band-pass balun

This work reports a novel lump-element balun for use in a miniature monolithic subharmonically pumped resistive mixer (SPRM) microwave monolithic integrated circuit. The proposed balun is simply analogous to the traditional Marchand balun. The coupled transmission lines are replaced by lump elements, significantly reducing the size of the balun. This balun requires no complicated three-dimensional electromagnetic simulations, multilayers or suspended substrate techniques; therefore, the design parameters are easily calculated. A 2.4-GHz balun is demonstrated using printed circuit board technology. The measurements show that the outputs of balun with high-pass and band-pass responses, a 1-dB gain balance, and a 5/spl deg/ phase balance from 1.7 to 2.45 GHz. The balun was then applied in the design of a 28-GHz monolithic SPRM. The measured conversion loss of the mixer was less than 11dB at a radio frequency (RF) bandwidth of 27.5-28.5 GHz at a fixed 1 GHz IF, a local oscillator (LO)-RF isolation of over 35 dB, and a 1-dB compression point higher than 9 dBm. The chip area of the mixer is less than 2.0 mm/sup 2/.     

A millimeter-wave monolithic doubly balanced diode mixer

A broadband miniature doubly balanced diode mixer chip fabricated by Win's 0.15μm pHEMT technology is presented. In order to save chip area, a four-fold modified Marchand balun is used. A coupled line U section improves the port to port isolation and provides the IF-output port. The mixer achieves a low conversion loss of 5.5 to 10.7 dB and high isolation of more than 26 dB over a 26-40 GHz RF/LO bandwidth and a DC-14 GHz IF bandwidth. The mixer's chip size is around 0.96 mm~2.     

5.7 GHz Gilbert I/Q Downconverter Integrated With a Passive LO Quadrature Generator and an RF Marchand Balun

A 5.7 GHz downconversion mixer is demonstrated in this letter using 0.35 mum SiGe BiCMOS technology. A quarter-wavelength coupled line and two center-tapped transformers are utilized to generate differential quadrature LO signals. A miniaturized Marchand balun is placed before the common-base-configured RF input stage of each Gilbert mixer to generate balanced RF signals. All the reactive passive elements are placed directly on the standard silicon substrate. The 5.7 GHz downconverter achieves 7 dB conversion gain, 26dBm _1dB, and 18dBm IIP₃ at the power consumption of 3.875 mW and 2.5 V supply voltage.     

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.     

Broadband monolithic passive baluns and monolithic double-balancedmixer

The design and fabrication of four broadband monolithic passive baluns including CPW Marchand, multilayer MS Marchand, planar-transformer and broadside-coupled line baluns are presented. Operational frequencies range from 1.5 GHz to 24 GHz. Maximum relative bandwidths in excess of 3:1 are achieved. Simulated performances using full wave electromagnetic analysis are shown to agree with the measured results. Two accurate equivalent circuit models constructed from either electromagnetic simulated or measured S-parameters are developed for the MS Marchand and transformer baluns making the optimization of baluns and circuit design using the baluns much more efficient. The design of monolithic double-balanced diode mixer using two planar-transformer baluns is also presented. Without DC bias, the mixer shows a minimum conversion loss of 6 dB with the RF at 5 GHz and a LO drive of 15 dBm at 4 GHz. The measured input IP₃ of this mixer is better than 15 dBm over the 4 to 5.75 GHz frequency band     

Low-Loss and Broadband Asymmetric Broadside-Coupled Balun for Mixer Design in 0.18-$mu{hbox {m}}$ CMOS Technology

This study presents an asymmetric broadside coupled balun with low-loss broadband characteristics for mixer designs. The correlation between balun impedance and a 3D multilayer CMOS structure are discussed and analyzed. Two asymmetric multilayer meander coupled lines are adopted to implement the baluns. Three balanced mixers that comprise three miniature asymmetric broadside coupled Marchand baluns are implemented to demonstrate the applicability to MOS technology. Both a single and dual balun occupy an area of only 0.06 mm². The balun achieves a measured bandwidth of over 120%, an insertion loss of better than 4.1 dB (3 dB for an ideal balun) at the center frequency, an amplitude imbalance of less than 1 dB, and a phase imbalance of less than 5deg from 10 to 60 GHz. The first demonstrated circuit is a Ku-band mixer, which is implemented with a miniaturized balun to reduce the chip area by 80%. This 17-GHz mixer yields a conversion loss of better than 6.8 dB with a chip size of 0.24 mm². The second circuit is a 15-60-GHz broadband single-balanced mixer, which achieves a conversion loss of better than 15 dB and occupies a chip area of 0.24 mm². A three-conductor miniaturized dual balun is then developed for use in the third mixer. This star mixer incorporates two miniature dual baluns to achieve a conversion loss of better than 15 dB from 27 to 54 GHz, and occupies a chip area of 0.34 mm².     

A novel planar dual balun for Doubly Balanced star mixer

A novel planar dual balun for doubly balanced star mixer is presented. The balun consists of two identical Marchand baluns using coupled microstrip lines. It shows the amplitude imbalance within 1.2 dB and the phase imbalance within 180/spl plusmn/1.5/spl deg/ over 1.2 to 2.8 GHz. The star mixer using a pair of the suggested balun has the conversion loss about 6 dB in the band.     

基于LTCC技术的C频段星载接收机混频器

利用低温共烧陶瓷(LowTemperature Co-fired Ceramic,简称LTCC)技术,设计制作了一种可应用于C频段星载接收机的双平衡混频器。该混频器将射频和本振巴伦等无源器件集成在多层LTCC基板内,实现了电路的小型化、高集成度和高可靠性。测试表明,当射频输入为5.925～6.425GHz、本振频率为2.225GHz、中频输出频率为3.7～4.2GHz时,混频器的变频损耗≤9.3dB,P1dB为5.7dBm,本振到射频和本振到中频的隔离度分别为39.44dB和35.58dB。混频器的尺寸为40×22×1.92mm3。     

K-Band CMOS Sub-Harmonic Resistive Mixer With a Miniature Marchand Balun on Lossy Silicon Substrate

A K-band sub-harmonically pumped resistive mixer is demonstrated using standard 0.13 mum CMOS technology. A miniature Marchand Balun is integrated with the resistive mixer to generate equal amplitude and out-of-phase signals for mixer's local oscillation (LO) port directly on the lossy silicon substrate. The sub-harmonic resistive mixer with the integrated Marchand balun has conversion loss of 11-12 dB at f_IF = 100 MHz and P_LO = 7 dBm for RF frequencies from 18 to 26 GHz. The LO-RF and LO-IF isolations are approximately 30 and 33 dB, respectively.     

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     

Design of a Broadband Millimeter-Wave Monolithic IQ Mixer

A 26∼40 GHz millimeter-wave monolithic passive IQ mixer was designed by using Win’s 0.15-μm GaAs pHEMT process. It utilizes a ring diode structure, and the performance can be improved effectively by a modified Marchand balun and U-type coupled lines. Through on-wafer measurement, the mixer shows a conversion loss of 6.6∼9 dB over a bandwidth of 26∼40 GHz, an IF bandwidth from DC to 6 GHz, an image rejection ratio of 21∼30 dB, an LO-RF isolation of above 24 dB, an LO-IF isolation of above 35 dB, and an RF-IF isolation of above 25 dB.     

一款集成驱动放大器的低变频损耗混频器设计

采用0.5μm GaAs工艺设计并制造了一款单片集成驱动放大器的低变频损耗混频器.电路主要包括混频部分、巴伦和驱动放大器3个模块.混频器的射频(RF)、本振(LO)频率为4～7 GHz,中频(IF)带宽为DC～2.5 GHz,芯片变频损耗小于7 dB,本振到射频隔离度大于35 dB,本振到中频隔离度大于27 dB.1 dB压缩点输入功率大于11 dBm,输入三阶交调点大于20 dBm.该混频器单片集成一款驱动放大器,解决了无源混频器要求大本振功率的问题,变频功能由串联二极管环实现,巴伦采用螺旋式结构,在实现超低变频损耗和良好隔离度的同时,保持了较小的芯片面积.整体芯片面积为1.1 mm×1.2 mm.     

GaAs pHEMT工艺6～18GHz有源倍频器MMIC

基于GaAs pHEMT工艺,设计了一个6～18 GHz宽带有源倍频器MM IC,最终实现了较高的转换增益和谐波抑制特性。芯片内部集成了输入匹配、有源巴伦、对管倍频器和输出功率放大器等电路。外加3.5 V电源电压下的静态电流为80 mA;输入功率为6 dBm时,6～18 GHz输出带宽内的转换增益为6 dB;基波和三次谐波抑制30 dBc。当输出频率为12 GHz时,100 kHz频偏下的单边带相位噪声为-143 dBc/Hz。芯片面积为1 mm×1.5 mm。     

Highly Integrated Ka-Band Sub-Harmonic Image-Reject Down-Converter MMIC

An integrated compact down-converter monolithic microwave integrated circuit chip is presented. It is designed using anti-parallel diode pair sub-harmonic image reject mixer and RF low noise amplifier. The quasi-lumped circuit components are employed in circuit design for the compact chip size. The conversion gain of the chip is 10–14 dB, image rejection above 20 dBc, and noise figure of 3.5–4.5 dB for the RF frequency of 29–36 GHz. The chip size is as compact as $2.24~{rm mm}^{2}$ on a $100~mu{rm m}$ GaAs substrate thickness.      

A 1.9-GHz silicon receiver with monolithic image filtering

A 1.9-GHz fully monolithic silicon superheterodyne receiver front-end is presented; it consists of a low noise amplifier (LNA), a tunable image reject filter, and a Gilbert cell mixer integrated in one die. The receiver was designed to operate with a 1.9-GHz RF and a 2.2-GHz local oscillator (LO) for a 300-MHz IF. Two chip versions were fabricated on two different fabrication runs using a 0.5-μm bipolar technology with 25 GHz transit frequency (f_T). Measured performance for the receiver front-end version 1, packaged and without input matching, was: conversion gain 33.5 dB, noise figure 4.9 dB, input IP3 -28 dBm, image rejection 53 dB (tuned to reject a 2.5-GHz image frequency), and 15.9 mA current consumption at +3 V. The image rejection was tunable from 2.4-2.63 GHz by means of an on-chip varactor. Version 2 had increased mixer degeneration for improved linearity. Its measured performance for the packaged receiver with its input matched to 50 Ω was: conversion gain 24 dB, noise figure 4.8 dB, input IP3 -19 dBm, and 65 dB image rejection for a 2.5-GHz image with an image tuning range from 2.34-2.55 GHz     

带有小型化Balun的C波段单片GaAs pHEMT单平衡电阻性混频器

 本文介绍了一种带有小型化无源Balun的C波段单片GaAs pHEMT单平衡电阻性混频器.Balun 采用集总—分布式结构,使其长度与常用λ/4耦合线Balun相比缩小了11倍,大大降低了将无源Balun应用于C波段单片集成电路中所需的芯片尺寸.混频器采用单平衡电阻性结构,在零功耗的情况下实现了良好的线性和口间隔离性能.测试结果显示,在固定中频160MHz,本振输入功率0dBm条件下,在3.5~5GHz RF频带内,最小变频损耗为8.3dB,1dB压缩点功率为8.0dBm,LO至IF之间的隔离度为38dB.     

An Active IF Balun for a Doubly Balanced Resistive Mixer

In this letter, we present a wideband active intermediate frequency (IF) balun for a doubly balanced resistive mixer implemented using a 0.5 mum GaAs pHEMT process. The 0.3 times 0.5 mm² IF balun was realized through a DC-coupled differential amplifier in order to extend IF frequency of the mixer to DC. The measured amplitude and phase imbalances were less than 1 dB and 5deg, respectively, from DC to 7 GHz. The output third order intercept (OIP3) and P1 dB of the IF balun were 18 dBm and 6 dBm, respectively at 1 GHz. The mixer with the IF balun is 1.7 times 1.8 mm² in size, has a conversion loss of 2 to 8 dB from 8 to 20 GHz RF frequency at a fixed IF of 1 kHz, which proves the mixer operates successfully at an IF frequency close to DC. The measured OIP3 were +10 to +15 dBm over the operating frequency with a DC power consumption of 370 mW.     

Monolithic SiGe Up‐/Down‐Conversion Mixers with Active Baluns

The purpose of this paper is to describe the implementation of monolithically matching circuits, interface circuits, and RF core circuits to the same substrate. We designed and fabricated on‐chip 1 to 6 GHz up‐conversion and 1 to 8 GHz down‐conversion mixers using a 0.8 µm SiGe hetero‐junction bipolar transistor (HBT) process technology. To fabricate a SiGe HBT, we used a reduced pressure chemical vapor deposition (RPCVD) system to grow a base epitaxial layer, and we adopted local oxidation of silicon (LOCOS) isolation to separate the device terminals. An up‐conversion mixer was implemented on‐chip using an intermediate frequency (IF) matching circuit, local oscillator (LO)/radio frequency (RF) wideband matching circuits, LO/IF input balun circuits, and an RF output balun circuit. The measured results of the fabricated up‐conversion mixer show a positive power conversion gain from 1 to 6 GHz and a bandwidth of about 4.5 GHz. Also, the down‐conversion mixer was implemented on‐chip using LO/RF wideband matching circuits, LO/RF input balun circuits, and an IF output balun circuit. The measured results of the fabricated down‐conversion mixer show a positive power conversion gain from 1 to 8 GHz and a bandwidth of about 4.5 GHz.     

A 23–37 GHz Miniature MMIC Subharmonic Mixer

A novel configuration of subharmonic mixer using an anti-parallel diode pair is presented for operating over the 23-37 GHz band. The monolithic microwave integrated circuit is implemented by GaAs 0.15 mum PHEMT technology with the compact size of 0.85 times 0.85 mm². This mixer employs a directional coupler, LC low-pass filter, and a short stub for isolating three ports corresponding to radio frequency (RF), local oscillation (LO) input, and intermediate frequency (IF) output ports. The directional coupler also provides impedance transformation between the diode pair, RF, and LO ports. This makes the subharmonic mixer more compact and flexible. The best conversion loss of the subharmonic mixer is 9.4 dB, and the LO-to-RF and LO-to-IF isolations are better than 22 and 31 dB, respectively.