Power Mixer Research Articles

SiGe BiCMOS D-Band Heterodyne Power Mixer With Back-Off Efficiency Enhanced by Current Clamping

SiGe BiCMOS D-Band Heterodyne Power Mixer With Back-Off Efficiency Enhanced by Current Clamping

Exploiting Ambipolarity in Graphene Field-Effect Transistors for Novel Designs on High-Frequency Analog Electronics.

Exploiting ambipolar electrical conductivity based on graphene field-effect transistors has raised enormous interest for high-frequency (HF) analog electronics. Controlling the device polarity, by biasing the graphene transistor around the vertex of the V-shaped transfer curve, enables to redesign and highly simplify conventional analog circuits, and simultaneously to seek for multifunctionalities, especially in the HF domain. This study presents new insights for the design of different HF applications such as power amplifiers, mixers, frequency multipliers, phase shifters, and modulators that specifically leverage the inherent ambipolarity of graphene-based transistors.

A Single Chain 800M/1.8G/2.4GHz Multistandard Transceiver With Multibranch Transformer for Low-Cost IoT Applications

An 800M/1.8G/2.4GHz multi-band multi-standard single chain transceiver is presented to support terminals under NB-IoT, BLE and ZigBee protocols. The multi-branch co-wound transformer structure co-designed with RF front-end blocks (i.e., LNA & Power Mixer) is proposed and adopted for compact and efficient in-out matching with moderate Q value. Such co-designed topology enables the single transceiver chain to cover wide-spreading frequency ranging over three times of its minimum band frequency, without compromising performance. The measurement shows that, in receiver chain, the sensitivity is better than −102 dBm, consuming less than 20mW, in transmitter chain, the EVM is 4.63% and 5.2% for NB-IoT multi-tone 12-tone transmission with 0dBm output power in LB and MB. The transceiver has been implemented in 65nm CMOS process, with <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1.5mm^{2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.6mm^{2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> for receiver and transmitter, respectively. The design is consistent with the requirement of low-cost multi-standard Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications.

Nanoplasmonic Directional Coupler Using Asymmetric Parallel Coupled MIM Waveguides

This article presents the design and analysis of a nanoplasmonic directional coupler using an asymmetric parallel-coupled line metal insulator metal (MIM) waveguide. The proposed plasmonic directional coupler is designed by applying three wire transmission line (TL) model based on the basic TL characteristic parameters of the related asymmetric parallel coupled line structures. To this end, the effective refractive index, propagation length, and characteristic impedance of the related coupled line MIM waveguide structure are obtained by using fullwave simulation software CST microwave studio suite. Specifically, the dual-band nature can be obtained by exchanging the asymmetric coupled line MIM waveguide section with two asymmetric even mode step impedance resonators (SIRs) by adjusting the gap width (g <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</sub> ). Subsequently, a side-coupled resonator is designed and analyzed. Hence, the designed coupler is more useful to exchange several plasmonic devices such as power splitters and mixers in photonic integrated circuits (PICs) at a subwavelength scale.

Foaming and sensory characteristics of protein-polyphenol particles in a food matrix

As food ingredients, protein-polyphenol aggregate particles provide a combination of structural and health-relevant functional benefits. Particles made by complexing whey (WPI) or rice (RPI) protein isolates and blueberry (BB) extracts were evaluated for foaming properties (foam volume, stability, and yield stress) using a high energy-input foaming operation (with an Ultra Power Mixer), and then also compared at low energy-input (foamed using a hand-held mixer). In the high energy-input foaming operation, whey protein rapidly formed foams (within 2 min). Whey protein-blueberry (WPI-BB) particles significantly improved yield stress and foam stability (2-fold) as compared to foams made with unmodified WPI. Rice protein required longer (>8 min) to produce foams, but foams were significantly more stable (longer drainage half-life) both when the protein was unmodified (RPI) or formulated as particles (RPI-BB). Protein-polyphenol particle foams (WPI-BB or RPI-BB) had a much greater proportion of smaller sized bubbles than polyphenol-free foams. WPI foams formed for descriptive analysis using the low energy-input method rapidly produced structures with fine, stable bubbles resistant to breakdown in the mouth, while those made with RPI had fewer, larger and looser bubbles which broke more easily after mixing and in the mouth. Inclusion of WPI-BB or RPI-BB particles enhanced palatability of protein isolates in a model (protein bars) food system as compared to non-complexed proteins. The complexed aggregate particles also provided sweetness, dark berry and dried fruit flavors and minimized bitterness and astringency. This work provides a context for understanding the utilization of protein-polyphenol particles as multifunctional ingredients that simultaneously deliver concentrated polyphenols associated with health benefits.

300-GHz-Band 120-Gb/s Wireless Front-End Based on InP-HEMT PAs and Mixers

We developed a 300-GHz-band 120-Gb/s wireless transceiver front-ends (TRX) using our in-house InP-based high-electron-mobility-transistor (InP-HEMT) technology for beyond-5G. The TRX is composed of the RF power amplifiers (PAs), mixers, and local oscillation (LO) PAs which are all packaged in individual waveguide (WG) modules by using a ridge coupler for low-loss WG-to-IC transition. RF PAs are designed using the low-impedance inter-stage-matching technique to reduce the inter-stage matching loss of the amplifier stages, and the back-side DC line (BDCL) technique is used to simplify the layout and to improve the gain of the PAs. The fabricated RF PAs show a high output 1-dB compression point of more than 6 dBm from 278 to 302 GHz. The mixers are used for both up- and down-conversion in the transmitter and receiver. These mixers are designed to have high conversion gain (CG) over the wideband even after packaging by enhancing the isolation between the RF and IF ports. The measured CG of mixer module is −15 dB, and the 3-dB IF-bandwidth is 32 GHz. The LO PAs are also designed using the BDCL technique so that they can supply the required LO power to the mixers. The TRX with these InP building blocks enables the data transmission of a 120 Gb/s 16QAM signal over a link distance of 9.8 m.

A New Strategy to Produce Hemp Fibers through a Waterglass-Based Ecofriendly Process.

Natural fibers such as kenaf, hemp, flax, jute, and sisal have become the subject of much research as potential green or eco-friendly reinforcement composites, since they assure the reduction of weight, cost, and CO2 release with less reliance on oil sources. Herein, an inexpensive and eco-friendly waterglass treatment is proposed, allowing the production of silica-coated fibers that can be easily obtained in micro/nano fibrils through a low power mixer. The silica coating has been exploited to improve the chemical compatibility between fibers and the polymer matrix through the reaction of silanol groups with suitable coupling agents. In particular, silica-coated fibers easily functionalized with (3-Aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTS) were used as a filler in the manufacturing of epoxy-based composites. Morphological investigation of the composites through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) demonstrated that the filler has a tendency to produce a web-like structure, formed by continuously interconnected fibrils and microfibrils, from which particularly effective mechanical properties may be obtained. Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) shows that the functionalized fibers, in a concentration of 5 wt%, strongly affect the glass transformation temperature (10 °C increase) and the storage modulus of the pristine resin. Taking into account the large number of organosilicon compounds (in particular the alkoxide ones) available on the market, the new process appears to pave the way for the cleaner and cheaper production of biocomposites with different polymeric matrices and well-tailored interfaces.

Ultra low power mixer with out-of-band RF energy harvesting for wireless sensor networks applications

An ultra low power mixer with out-of-band radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting suitable for the wireless sensors network (WSN) application is proposed in this paper. The presented mixer is able to harvest the out-of-band RF energy and keep it working in ultra low power condition and extend the battery life of the WSN. The mixer is designed and simulated with Global Foundries ’ 0.18 μ m CMOS RF process, and it operates at 2.4GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band. The Cadence IC Design Tools post-layout simulation results demonstrate that the proposed mixer consumes 248 μ W from a 1V supply voltage. Furthermore, the power consumption can be reduced to 120.8 μ W by the out-of-band RF energy harvesting rectifier.

Multi-Mode 60-GHz Radar Transmitter SoC in 45-nm SOI CMOS

This article introduces an architecture for a millimeter-wave multi-mode radar transmitter IC, which supports three key radar waveforms: 1) continuous-wave (CW/FMCW); 2) pulse; and 3) phase-modulated continuous-wave (PMCW), all from a single front end. The proposed IC, implemented in a 45-nm CMOS silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process for operation in the 60-GHz band, integrates a broadband frequency tripler, a two-stage pre-amplifier, two power mixers, and mixed-signal baseband waveform generation circuitry. The transmitter radar operation in multiple modes is enabled by configuring the power mixers and the associated waveform baseband circuitry. An important advantage of this approach is that the overall signal bandwidth, a key performance metric in radar, is limited only by the RF output nodes in pulse generation. A novel broadband frequency tripler design technique based on a current-reuse topology is also proposed for LO generation with >59% output fractional bandwidth. On-wafer measurement results for the full TX IC in CW mode show an average output power of 12.8 dBm from 54 to 67 GHz with a peak power of 14.7 dBm and the harmonic rejection ratio >27 dB. The measurement in pulse mode demonstrates programmable pulsewidth from 20 to 140 ps, which translates to >40-GHz radar signal bandwidth. The PMCW mode operation is also demonstrated in this case with 10-Gb/s PRBS modulated radar signal. The IC consumes 0.51 W and occupies $2.3\times 0.85$ mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> of die area excluding pads.

High Linearity Transmit Power Mixers Using Baseband Current Feedback

Transmit mixers frequently use Gilbert cells driven by common-source baseband amplifiers. Class-AB biasing is used in the latter for high efficiency, but this causes poor linearity. In this article, linearity is enhanced by using negative feedback to directly sense and linearize the baseband current flowing into the switching pair of the mixer. By suppressing both gate- and drain-induced nonlinearities, it achieves higher linearity and permits a higher power output compared to using replica devices of the common-source amplifiers in negative feedback. The technique is demonstrated using two prototypes: a 130 nm prototype designed for 1.9 GHz long term evolution (LTE) signals and a 65 nm LP prototype designed for Bluetooth basic data rate (BDR) and enhanced data rate (EDR) modes. The 130 nm prototype has an adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) of −41.3/−40.4/−37.6 dBc for LTE5/10/20 at 11.7 dBm output, −148.6 dBc/Hz noise at 80 MHz offset for 10 dBm output, and −53.8 dBc CIM3 for 9 dBm output power. It consumes 335 mW from 3 V and 1.3 V supplies, including 79 mW in the LO buffers. The 4.4% efficiency represents 70% improvement over the state-of-the-art. The 65 nm prototype provides 4 dBm output power (EDR) while consuming 50.5 mW from 1.8 V.

Energy Balance of Biogas Production from Microalgae: Effect of Harvesting Method, Multiple Raceways, Scale of Plant and Combined Heat and Power Generation

A previously-developed mechanistic energy balance model for production of biogas from the anaerobic digestion of microalgal biomass grown in open raceway systems was used to consider the energetic viability of a number of scenarios, and to explore some of the most critical parameters affecting net energy production. The output demonstrated that no single harvesting method of those considered (centrifugation, settlement or flocculation) produced an energy output sufficiently greater than operational energy inputs to make microalgal biogas production energetically viable. Combinations of harvesting methods could produce energy outputs 2.3–3.4 times greater than the operational energy inputs. Electrical energy to power pumps, mixers and harvesting systems was 5–8 times greater than the heating energy requirement. If the energy to power the plant is generated locally in a combined heat and power unit, a considerable amount of “low grade” heat will be available that is not required by the process, and for the system to show a net operational energy return this must be exploited. It is concluded that the production of microalgal biogas may be energetically viable, but it is dependent on the effective use of the heat generated by the combustion of biogas in combined heat and power units to show an operational energy return.

Ultra-Low Power CMOS RF Mixer for Wireless Sensor Networks Application: A Review

This paper reviews ultra-low power CMOS RF mixer for wireless sensor networks (WSN) application. The study elaborates several types of mixer, mixer’s performance parameters, the mixer’s topologies and also the design technique to improve the mixer performance. The previously published works are compared and the best topology for low power mixer is discussed.

Influence on Noise Performance of GaN HEMTs With In Situ and Low-Pressure-Chemical-Vapor-Deposition SiN x Passivation

High-frequency and low-frequency noise (LFN) performance of GaN high electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs), passivated with SiN x deposited by either $in~situ$ or low-pressure-chemical-vapor-deposition (LPCVD), are compared. From 8–26 GHz, the LPCVD sample has a lower minimum noise figure (1 dB at 8 GHz) because of lower power spectral density of noise sources and less transconductance ( $g_{m})$ dispersion. The LPCVD and the $in~situ$ SiN x passivated HEMTs exhibit similar LFN in the 1 Hz–100 kHz range (drain current noise spectra $\sim 10^{-17}~\text{A}^{2}$ /Hz at 100 kHz). Nevertheless, LPCVD should be a preferred choice for voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) applications, since it is capable of suppressing current collapse more effectively, which results in a higher output power and, therefore, a lower phase noise. Furthermore, the low current collapse, low LFN, and minimum noise figure makes the LPCVD SiN x passivation a promising candidate for multifunctional monolithic microwave integrated circuits, including power amplifiers, low-noise amplifier, switches, mixers, and VCOs.

A Dynamically Biased Multiband 2G/3G/4G Cellular Transmitter in 28 nm CMOS

We present a highly configurable, low-power, low-area, low-EVM, SAW-less transmitter (TX) architecture that is based on a dynamically biased power mixer. All FDD/TDD bands from 0.7 to 2.7 GHz for 4G LTE Rel-11 and 3G $\bf{HSPA} + $ are supported in addition to 2G quad bands. The power-mixer bias current is dynamically adjusted based on the instantaneous baseband signal swing using a fully-differential hybrid full-wave rectifier/envelope-detector circuit. Dynamic biasing leads to greater than 50% current savings when compared to fixed-biasing while providing a higher output power with better linearity. Implemented in 28 nm CMOS technology, the TX shows better than $- \bf{157}\;\bf{dBc}/\bf{Hz}$ RX-band noise emission and $- \bf{41}\;\bf{dBc}$ ACLR for output powers up-to $+ \bf{4}\;\bf{dBm}$ across all 3G/4G bands, while demonstrating above 80 dB of gain control range. In addition, the TX can be configured to provide better than $- \bf{65}\;\bf{dBc}$ CIM3, allowing it to meet stringent spurious emission specifications when transmitting 1 RB 4G LTE signals in B13/B26/B1.

A mm-Wave Segmented Power Mixer

The segmented power-mixer array based mm-wave power generation architecture is demonstrated to be an energy-efficient technique for generating high-speed nonconstant envelope modulations. High output power levels are achieved by efficiently combining power from several power mixers using an area efficient dual-primary distributed active transformer. The segmented scheme leads to back-off efficiency improvements while simultaneously providing direct envelope modulation eliminating the need for high-speed high-efficiency supply modulators. The power mixer is implemented in a 32-nm silicon-on-insulator CMOS process and provides a peak output power of 19.1 dBm at 51 GHz with a drain efficiency of 14.2% and a peak power-added efficiency of 10.1%. High-speed constant (binary phase-shift keying, quadrature phase-shift keying), as well as nonconstant envelope modulations ( $m$ -amplitude shift keying, quadrature amplitude modulation) show the versatility of the architecture towards spectrally efficient modulation schemes. Reliability against segment breakdown over long periods of time at 30% higher supply voltages has also been demonstrated.

Experiment Solution Velocity and Pressure Field in the Mixing Process Computer Simulation

The process of mixing materials is a very complex process. The mixing process is used for homogenisation of substances. Rather than propose a real mixer, you must first construct a mixer for operational purposes experimental solutions. Experimental solutions are most often realized in laboratory conditions. Experimental mixers are made according to the requirements of power mixers, fluid flow, density and viscosity of the mixed fluid. To investigate the mixing process in the Laboratory mixers are made on the basis of the criteria of non-dimensional simplex. For designing operating mixers can also use analytical solutions of technical equipment and the mixing process. It is now possible to implement solutions using FEM numerical simulation of this phenomenon.The homogeneity of the mixed substances, mixer performs rotational movement about the axis of rotation. In most cases, the rotational movement of the stirrer describes the geometrical shape of the mixer. Usually rotation axis Mixer is the axis of symmetry. The shape and dimensions of the stirrer depends on the desired performance of mixer, the type of flow, the type and quantity of mixed materials.

Ultra low power and high gain switched CMOS [formula omitted] current reused mixer for wireless multi-standard applications

An ultra low power and low voltage down conversion mixer is presented in this paper for the frequency band of 1.8–2.4GHz. Designed in 0.18μm CMOS technology, the double balanced proposed mixer is composed by two cascaded stages. The first one is based on cross coupled capacitors technique in current reused topology providing a high voltage gain, while the second one employs a current reused transducer coupled to LO driven inverters to perform the down conversion. All the devices operate on moderate inversion for better trade-off between gain, linearity, and low power consumption. The post layout simulation shows a 23dB of voltage gain conversion, an IIP3 of −2dBm, with 300μW of power consumption under 0.9V voltage supply.

A Current-Mode, Low Out-of-Band Noise LTE Transmitter With a Class-A/B Power Mixer

A complete SAW-less transmitter meeting LTE requirements is presented. High power efficiency and low out-of-band noise are obtained exploiting fully current operation of an analog baseband followed by a class-A/B power mixer. Out-of-band emissions are limited by filtering noise and DAC replicas right before the signal up-conversion through a current-mode Biquad feeding directly the power-mixer. The transmitter, implemented in 55 nm CMOS technology, shows -158 dBc/Hz RX-band noise emission at 30 MHz offset for LTE10, while consuming 96 and 34 mW from the single 1.8 V power supply at 4 and -10 dBm output power, respectively. ACLR is always below -42 dBc up to 4 dBm for both LTE10 and LTE20.

A novel low-power transceiver topology for noncontact vital sign detection including the power management technique

In this paper, power management technique utilized in the direct down-conversion non-quadrature transceiver is presented for the low-power application of vital sign detection. The simultaneous switching noise (SSN) and overshoot and undershoot of the transient waveform distortion resulting from a pulse signal will give rise to interference with a vital sign signal. The pulse width, rise/fall time, and period of pulse bias are analyzed to mitigate the interference in this investigation. Significant issues about direct-current (DC) offset and noise confronted by the presented technique are addressed based on mathematical analysis. In radio-frequency (RF) transceiver architecture including power amplifier (PA), low-noise amplifier (LNA), and mixer, the current-reused (CRU) topology is utilized to achieve low DC power consumption. The post-layout simulation results exhibit that power consumption of the transceiver using the optimized pulse bias is reduced to 40% of the power consumption for transceiver applying the DC bias. In addition, DC offset and null detection point can be alleviated by tunable phase shifter.

A Low Power and High Conversion Gain 60-Ghz Cmos Up-Conversion Mixer Using Current Injection and Dual Negative Resistance Compensation Techniques

A 60-GHz double-balanced mixer for direct up-conversion using standard 90-nm CMOS technology is reported. The up-conversion mixer comprises an enhanced double-balanced Gilbert cell with current injection for power consumption reduction, and negative resistance compensation for conversion gain (CG) enhancement, a Marchand balun for converting the single local oscillator (LO) input signal to differential signal, and another Marchand balun for converting the differential radio frequency (RF) output signal to single signal. The mixer consumes 8.83 mW and achieves intermediate frequency (IF)-port input return loss of −12.3 dB at 0.1 GHz, LO-port input return loss of −15.4 to −26.7 dB, and RF-port input return loss of −12.1 to −28.5 dB for frequencies 57–64 GHz. At IF of 0.1 GHz, the mixer achieves CG of 2 dB and LO-RF isolation of 48.8 dB at RF of 60 GHz. The corresponding 3-dB bandwidth of RF is 4.4 GHz (57.7–62.1 GHz). To the authors' knowledge, the LO-RF isolation and power consumption are the best results ever reported for a 60-GHz CMOS/BiCMOS up-conversion mixer. In addition, the measured output 1-dB compression point and input third-order intermodulation point are −10.1 and −2.15 dBm, respectively, at RF of 60 GHz. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 55:1830–1836, 2013