A 2.4-GHz High Conversion Gain Passive Mixer Using $Q$ -Boosted $\pi $ -Type LCL Matching Networks in 90-nm CMOS

Abstract

In this letter, a 2.4-GHz double-balanced passive mixer is presented which offers high conversion gain. The improvement of the local oscillator (LO) and RF input voltage is obtained as a ${Q}$ -factor by the LC resonance of the $\pi $ -type inductor-capacitor-inductor matching network. This passive mixer with a high conversion gain is fabricated using 90-nm-1P5M CMOS technology. The mixer down converts a 2.4-GHz RF frequency to an intermediate frequency of 10 MHz. The measurement results show a 6.5-dB voltage conversion gain, a −6 dBm 1-dB compression point when LO power is −5 dBm and zero dc power consumption.