GHz Mixer Research Articles

A 0.5–2.5 GHz Mixer First Receiver With 200 MHz RF Bandwidth and +18.5 dBm OB-IIP3 in 180 nm CMOS for 5G NR Band

A 0.5–2.5 GHz Mixer First Receiver With 200 MHz RF Bandwidth and +18.5 dBm OB-IIP3 in 180 nm CMOS for 5G NR Band

340 and 250 GHz Schottky solid‐state heterodyne receiver arrays for passive imaging systems

AbstractReal‐time terahertz passive imaging systems are highly demanded in security checking application. In this paper, two four‐pixel receiver arrays for 340 and 250 GHz passive imaging systems are presented. As the core device of the front‐end of the receiving array, the low noise terahertz mixer is realized based on the enhanced Schottky diode model and low‐loss circuit structure. The minimum double side band (DSB) noise temperature of the separated 340 and 250 GHz mixers is 900 and 580 K, respectively, within the operational band‐width. Without considering fluctuation in the power gain, the calculated temperature sensitivity of 340 GHz receiver is 0.8 K with 40 GHz RF band. Finally, based on all‐solid‐state millimeter‐wave drive front end and reflector optics, a passive terahertz imaging system is completed. Less than 1 cm space resolution is achieved for 1–3 m object distances, and the distinct imaging to hidden threats is produced and made contrast among the two receiver arrays. The perfect imaging performances of the system verify the low noise characteristic of terahertz mixer. The Schottky solid‐state receiver array provides a cheap and feasible option for personal security screening.

A 53–67 GHz Low-Noise Mixer-First Receiver Front-End in 65-nm CMOS

In this paper, we present a mixer-first receiver front-end suitable for millimeter wave (mm-wave) applications. The proposed architecture includes a modified single-balanced mixer core with an on-chip balun in order to provide a differential output from an injected single-ended local oscillator signal. The mm-wave active balun incorporates a cascode cross-coupled structure to achieve a high voltage gain with low amplitude and phase imbalance. The inter-stage inductors are utilized to increase the mixer conversion gain (CG). Moreover, by manipulating the transistor body effect in the transconductance stage, the CG and noise figure of the mixer are further improved. The mixer also achieves a high input return loss which makes it suitable for the mixer-first receivers. As a proof-of-concept, a 53–67 GHz mixer with a center intermediate-frequency of 20 GHz is designed and implemented in a 65-nm CMOS process. The mixer achieves a measured peak conversion gain of 12.1 dB and a 1-dB compression point of −5 dBm. Furthermore, the fabricated mixer achieves a minimum double-sideband (DSB) noise figure of 6.5 dB over its bandwidth. The whole chip consumes 11.5 mW from a 1-V supply and excluding the pads occupies 0.27 mm2 of silicon area.

Asymmetric Two-Terminal Graphene Detector for Broadband Radiofrequency Heterodyne- and Self-Mixing

Graphene, a single atomic layer of covalently bonded carbon atoms, has been investigated intensively for optoelectronics and represents a promising candidate for high-speed electronics. Here, we present a microwave mixer constructed as an asymmetrically contacted two-terminal graphene device based on the thermoelectric effect. We report a 50 GHz (minimum) mixer bandwidth as well as 130 V/W (163 mA/W) extrinsic direct-detection responsivity. Anomalous second-harmonic generation due to self-mixing in our graphene detector is also observed. Careful investigation of the responsivity from four different approaches gives consistent results, confirming the exceptional performance of our zero-bias device operating at room temperature. The 50 GHz bandwidth indicates an extremely fast response time and our experimental results represent an encouraging advance toward practical graphene microwave devices with anticipated future applications extended through millimeter wave and terahertz frequencies.

Switchable Direct-Conversion Receiver for 2GHz and 5GHzwith Sub-harmonic Mixer

This paper reports on a fully-integrated CMOS switchable direct-conversion receiver for 2GHz, 5GHz.Switchable low noise amplifier is proposed for suiting for multiband (2GHz, 5GHz).Sub-harmonic mixing is used for down-conversion to minimize the DCoffset due to LO-leakage. The residual DC-offset is cancelled by a digital-to-analog converter at the output of mixer. For quadrature down-conversion with sub-harmonic mixing, octa-phase LO signals are generated by an integer-N type frequency synthesizer. Implemented in a 0.18m CMOS technology, the receiver dissipates 97mA from a 1.8V supply voltage and has 6.5dB noise figure (NF) and -4dBm input thirdorder intercept point (iIP3). The phase noise of the closed-loop VCO is -108dBc/Hz at 1MHz offset.

Design and Implementation of a High-Performance W-Band Up-Conversion Mixer in 90 nm CMOS

A 79 GHz mixer with Dual Negative-Resistance Compensation for direct up-conversion using standard 90nm CMOS technology is reported. The mixer comprises an enhanced double-balanced Gilbert cell with current injection for power consumption reduction, and dual negative resistance compensation for conversion gain (CG) enhancement. A Marchand balun is used for conversion of the single LO input signal to a differential signal, and another Marchand balun is used to convert the differential RF output to a single signal. The mixer consumes 26.52mW and has an LO-port return loss (S22) of -11.12~-11.34dB for frequencies of 75~81GHz, RF-port return loss (S33) of -11.44~-12.98dB for frequencies of 70~90GHz. At an IF of 0.1GHz and an RF of 79GHz, the mixer achieves a CG of 3.7dB and LO-RF isolation of 37.75dB.

An Oscillator and a Mixer for 140-GHz Heterodyne Receiver Front-End based on SiGe HBT Technology

This paper reports a couple of key circuit blocks developed for heterodyne receiver front-ends operating near 140 ㎓ based on SiGe HBT technology. Firstly, a 123-㎓ oscillator was developed based on Colpitts topology, which showed - 5 ㏈m output power and phase noise of -107.34 ㏈c/㎐ at 10 ㎒. DC power dissipation was 25.6 ㎽. Secondly, a 135 ㎓ mixer was developed based on a modified Gilbert Cell topology, which exhibited a peak conversion gain of 3.6 ㏈ at 1 ㎓ IF at fixed LO frequency of 134 ㎓. DC power dissipation was 3 ㎽, which mostly comes from the buffer.

Design and Implementation of a High-Performance W-Band Up-Conversion Mixer in 90 nm CMOS

A 79 GHz mixer with Dual Negative-Resistance Compensation for direct up-conversion using standard 90nm CMOS technology is reported. The mixer comprises an enhanced double-balanced Gilbert cell with current injection for power consumption reduction, and dual negative resistance compensation for conversion gain (CG) enhancement. A Marchand balun is used for conversion of the single LO input signal to a differential signal, and another Marchand balun is used to convert the differential RF output to a single signal. The mixer consumes 26.52mW and has an LO-port return loss (S22) of -11.12~-11.34dB for frequencies of 75~81GHz, RF-port return loss (S33) of -11.44~-12.98dB for frequencies of 70~90GHz. At an IF of 0.1GHz and an RF of 79GHz, the mixer achieves a CG of 3.7dB and LO-RF isolation of 37.75dB.

Design and Implementation of a High-Performance 79 GHz Up-Conversion Mixer in 90 nm CMOS

A 79 GHz mixer for direct up-conversion using standard 90 nm CMOS technology is reported. The mixer comprises an enhanced double-balanced Gilbert cell with current injection for power consumption reduction, and dual negative resistance compensation for conversion gain (CG) enhancement, a Marchand balun for converting the single LO input signal to differential signal, and another Marchand balun for converting the differential RF output signal to single signal. The mixer consumes 13.6 mW and achieves IF-port input reflection coefficient (S11) of -11.4 dB at 0.1 GHz, LO-port input reflection coefficient (S22) of -12.2~ -28.7 dB for frequencies 75~90 GHz. At IF of 0.1 GHz and RF of 78.1 GHz, the mixer achieves CG of 2.1 dB and LO-RF isolation of 35.9 dB, the best CG and isolation results ever reported for a W-band CMOS/BiCMOS mixer with power consumption lower than 15 mW.

13.6 mW 79 GHz CMOS Up-Conversion Mixer With 2.1 dB Gain and 35.9 dB LO-RF Isolation

We report a 79 GHz mixer for direct up-conversion using 90 nm CMOS technology. In the mixer, an enhanced double-balanced Gilbert cell with current injection is used to reduce power consumption, and dual negative resistance compensation (NRC) is used to improve conversion gain (CG). In addition, it also includes two Marchand baluns: the single LO input signal to differential signal is converted by one of the baluns, and the differential RF output signal to single signal is converted by the other. The mixer consumes 13.6 mW, achieving IF-port input reflection coefficient (S <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">11</sub> ) of - 11.4 dB at 0.1 GHz, LO-port input reflection coefficient (S <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">22</sub> ) of - 12.2 ~ - 28.7 dB for frequencies 75-90 GHz. At IF of 0.1 GHz and RF of 78.1 GHz, the mixer achieves CG of 2.1 dB and LO-RF isolation of 35.9 dB, the best CG and isolation results ever reported for a W-band silicon-based mixer with power consumption lower than 15 mW.

18–40 GHz low conversion loss double-balanced star mixer using bilateral finline and antipodal finline

A unique broadband millimetre-wave low conversion loss double-balanced mixer based on a star configuration has been designed and demonstrated. The ridged waveguide to bilateral finline transition and the ridged waveguide to antipodal finline transition are used as the local oscillator (LO) and radio frequency (RF) port of the mixer, respectively. The intermediate frequency (IF) signal is orthogonally extracted from the common star-configuration point. The height of the ridge of the double-ridged waveguide is reduced gradually to improve the impedance match and ensure enough space to mount the diodes. The leakage RF signal launched by the antipodal finline is terminated by six plated-through holes through the slot line conductors. A short-circuit formed by the bifurcation of the balanced microstrip line is used to terminate the leakage LO signal launched by the bilateral finline. The measured results show the mixer has low conversion loss (from 3.8 to 7.0 dB), high isolation between all ports (&gt;26 dB), as well as low return loss of the RF port over the frequency range of 18 to 40 GHz. Compared with previously published mixers, this work demonstrates the best performances of the most important parameters of 18–40 GHz mixers.

Development of 460 GHz and Dual Polarization SIS Mixers for the Submillimeter Array

A heterodyne receiver incorporating superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixers has been designed to cover the frequency range from 400 to 520 GHz of the Submillimeter Array (SMA). Various tuning circuits have been employed to resonate out the geometric capacitance of the junction and provide impedance matching to the waveguide probe. Our measurements indicated that a receiver noise temperature of around 90 K, with the contributions from the input noise and intermediate frequency (IF) noise estimated to be around 60 K and 10 K, respectively. SIS mixers integrated with planar orthomode transducers (OMT) have also been designed at 345 GHz for dual polarization detections, and results from the 3-dimensional (3-D) electromagnetic (EM) simulations are presented.

Fully integrated 60 GHz transceiver in SiGe BiCMOS, RF modules, and 3.6 Gbit/s OFDM data transmission

A fully integrated transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) front-end chipset, produced in 0.25 µm SiGe:C bipolar and complementary metal oxide semiconductor (BiCMOS) technology, is presented. The front-end is intended for high-speed wireless communication in the unlicensed ISM band of 9 GHz around 60 GHz. The TXand RX features a modified heterodyne topology with a sliding intermediate frequency. The TX features a 12 GHz in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) mixer, an intermediate frequency (IF) amplifier, a phase-locked loop, a 60 GHz mixer, an image-rejection filter, and a power amplifier. The RX features a low-noise amplifier (LNA), a 60 GHz mixer, a phase-locked loop (PLL), and an IF demodulator. The measured 1-dB compression point at the TX output is 12.6 dBm and the saturated power is 16.2 dBm. The LNA has measured noise figure of 6.5 dB at 60 GHz. Error-free data transmission with a 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signal and data rate of 3.6 Gbit/s (without coding 4.8 Gbit/s) over 15 m was demonstrated. This is the best reported result regarding both the data rate and transmission distance in SiGe and CMOS without beamforming.

60 GHz Radio over Fiber Technology for Wireless Access by employing Narrow-Angle PSK Modulation

This paper investigates two key techniques used in 60 GHz Radio over Fiber (RoF) technology for wireless access, namely, the generation of 60 GHz signals and the distribution of 60 GHz local oscillator (LO). In the proposed model, a 60 GHz PSK signal is generated by a heterodyne of two subcarriers with narrow-angle PSK (NA-PSK) modulation, whose phase shift is equal to one half that of a normal PSK signal. Then we use a 60 GHz mixer to frequency mix two PSK signals in two different bands, 60 GHz and baseband. By doing this, the modulation information can be fully eliminated, resulting in a 60 GHz LO. In the wireless terminal, coherent demodulation is realized by a self-mixing of the transmitted 60 GHz PSK signal and LO. Thus no millimeter-wave (mm-wave) band oscillator is needed in the wireless terminal.

A 16–46 GHz Mixer Using Broadband Multilayer Balun in 0.18-$\mu$m CMOS Technology

A 16-46 GHz mixer using broadband balun fabricated in standard 0.18-mum CMOS process is demonstrated. The broadside-coupled balun with wide bandwidth and low insertion loss utilizes the inherent 3D multilayer structure in CMOS process. The mixer exhibits radio frequency bandwidth from 16 to 46 GHz with a conversion loss ranging from 13 plusmn 1.5 dB, and achieves bandwidth over 103% with a compact chip size of 0.24 mm2.

Wireless and RF Module Packaging using Low Loss Ceramic and Low Loss Organic Materials

ABSTRACTThis presentation describes the basics of Multi-Mix® and Green Tape™ Low Temperature Cofired Ceramic (LTCC) technologies. The design and performance of a 28 GHz mixer package using a GaAs MMIC and the 943 Green Tape™ LTCC system with embedded capacitance technology is described including the tradeoffs, advantages and compatibility of Multi-Mix® and Green Tape™ technologies. A design approach combining the technologies offers the designer new options to meet the ever-increasing demands of high frequency packaging.

Low-noise, low-power monolithically integratedactive 20 GHz mixer in SiGe technology

A monolithically integrated active broadband mixer for wireless communications in a 0.5 µm 80 GHz-fT SiGe bipolar technology is presented. The circuit is optimised for low-noise and low-power consumption and operates up to 20 GHz with a conversion gain >10 dB consuming only 9 mW from a single 4.5 V supply.

Fixed-tuned submillimeter wavelength waveguide mixers using planar Schottky-barrier diodes

The design, construction, and evaluation of fixed-tuned submillimeter wavelength waveguide mixers using planar Schottky diodes are presented in this paper. Electromagnetic fields within the planar diode package were analyzed using the finite-element method (FEM). Mixers using the University of Virginia SCIT5 planar diode were designed at both 585 and 690 GHz. A double sideband (DSB) system noise temperature of 2380 K was measured at 585 GHz using 1.16 mW of local oscillator (LO) power, and a system noise temperature of 2970 K DSB was measured at 690 GHz using 1.04 mW of LO power. In addition, the 585 GHz mixer was cooled to both 77 K and 4.2 K, with measured system noise temperatures of 1240 and 880-K DSB using LO powers of 0.47 and 0.14 mW, respectively. The modeling techniques were found to predict the measured conversion loss to within 1 dB. The performance of planar diode mixers is now within a factor of 1.5 of the best whisker-contacted Schottky diode mixers in this frequency range.

60 GHz mixer MMIC for millimeter wave radar

Abstract In conclusion, we produced a 60 GHz mixer MMIC for millimeter wave radar whose modulation noise and conversion loss is very low.

New elements for analysis of series arrays of superconducting junctions for submillimeter heterodyne detection

Some specific features of series arrays of superconducting junctions used as mixing elements in radioastronomical spectroscopy are analysed. The influence of the area and insulating barrier inhomogeneities between the different junctions is examined with a simple and accurate technique. It uses the variation of the maximum Josephson currents of the individual junctions as a function of an applied external magnetic field. It is also shown with this technique that the possibility for some junctions of the array to trap some random flux can prevent stable and sensitive operation of the mixer. Some experimental performances of mixers working near 380 and 330 GHz with series arrays are given. The difficulty of fully suppressing the Josephson currents of each junction at a time appears to be partly responsible for lower sensitivity and instabilities. Another cause of degraded performance comes from the different embedding impedances of each individual junction at the working frequency. It is due to a spreading of the geometrical parameters either of the junctions or of the individual tuning circuits used to compensate the junction capacitance for the 330 GHz mixer. The best performance of the array is then the result of a compromise where all junctions do not operate with optimum efficiency