A K-band BiCMOS low duty-cycle resistive mixer

Abstract

This paper presents a double-balanced downconverter based on a low duty-cycle passive mixer that translates a 18.8 GHz RF signal into a 1 GHz IF signal. The resistive mixer is driven by two analog specially designed pulse generators in order to provide very low conversion losses at high frequencies. The chip has been processed using a 0.13 µm BiCMOS technology. With a −1.2 dBm input LO power, the overall measured conversion gain is 13.2 dB with an estimated contribution of only −2.1 dB from the passive mixer. The measured noise figure is 6.3 dB. The inputreferred 1 dB compression point, hardly limited by the IF amp, is −25.7 dB, with −5 dBm for the mixer itself. Total power consumption is 109 mW.

A New 77 GHz Sampling Mixer in 28-nm FD-SOI CMOS Technology for Automotive Radar application

“…The table 2 sums up the sampling mixer performances. These results show that the benefits of sampling mixers already demonstrated at lower frequencies [2] are also achievable in the W band with a 28-nm CMOS node. As stand-alone passive mixers are not presented in the literature related to CMOS 77 GHz radar receivers, a meaningful comparison between this sampling mixer and other existing solutions is a bit difficult.…”

“…Benefits of sampling mixers have already been demonstrated around a few GHz and more recently at higher frequencies in [2]. The frequency performance of latest nm-scaled CMOS technological nodes let the sampling mixer appear as a possible option at 77 GHz.…”

“…Nevertheless, passive mixers suffer from low conversion gain that affect the receiver NF. Better performances can be reached by using a passive sampling mixer that still benefits from good linearity while improving the conversion gain [2].…”

Evolution Trends and Paradigms of Low Noise Frequency Synthesis and Signal Conversion Using Silicon Technologies

“…A better noise performance is however possible using voltage or current switching mixer when LO voltage duty cycle is lower than 50% to reduce conversion losses. This approach, widely used for applications located in the low end of the RF spectrum [111][112][113], is reaching millimeterwave frequencies [103,110]. In [110] (author's paper), an NF of 6.3 dB is obtained at 19 GHz by a voltage sampling mixer.…”

“…This approach, widely used for applications located in the low end of the RF spectrum [111][112][113], is reaching millimeterwave frequencies [103,110]. In [110] (author's paper), an NF of 6.3 dB is obtained at 19 GHz by a voltage sampling mixer. This result contains the noise contributions of switching devices but also of the baseband amplifier, including baseband amplifier contribution.…”