High-Isolation Millimeter-Wave Subharmonic Monolithic Mixer With Modified Quasi-Circulator

This study presents a 21-40-GHz broadband subharmonic gate-pumped mixer using the standard 0.18-μ m CMOS process. A modified quasi-circulator is monolithically integrated with an nMOS field-effect transistor to perform down-converter mixing while enhancing all port isolations through a broadband operation. The proposed configuration has a chip size of less than 0.9 mm2. The measured results demonstrate a low conversion loss from 8.3 to 14.2 dB, a local oscillation (LO)-to-RF isolation greater than 50 dB, and a high 2LO-to-RF isolation of 48 dB to 65 dB over the 21-40-GHz RF bandwidth at a 10.5-dBm LO power level.

[1]  C. E. Saavedra,et al.  Active quasi-circulator realisation with gain elements and slow-wave couplers , 2007 .

[2]  T. Tokumitsu,et al.  Novel unilateral circuits for MMIC circulators , 1990 .

[3]  Wing Shing Chan,et al.  Novel Active Quasi-Circulator With Phase Compensation Technique , 2008, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters.

[4]  Mingquan Bao,et al.  A 9–31-GHz Subharmonic Passive Mixer in 90-nm CMOS Technology , 2006 .

[5]  G. Carchon,et al.  Power and noise limitations of active circulators , 2000 .

[6]  Huei Wang,et al.  A 2–40 GHz Active Balun Using 0.13 $\mu{\rm m}$ CMOS Process , 2009, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters.

[7]  Shih-Han Hung,et al.  Wide-Band High Isolation Subharmonically Pumped Resistive Mixer with Active Quasi-Circulator , 2010 .

[8]  C. E. Saavedra,et al.  An Ultra-Low-Voltage and Low-Power $\times$2 Subharmonic Downconverter Mixer , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.

[9]  Kun-You Lin,et al.  A 1 . 5 – 9 . 6 GHz Monolithic Active Quasi-Circulator in 0 . 18 � � CMOS Technology , 2009 .

[10]  Martin J Cryan,et al.  Analysis and design of integrated active circulator antennas , 2000 .

[11]  Yeong-Her Wang,et al.  A 10–40 GHz Broadband Subharmonic Monolithic Mixer in 0.18 $\mu$ m CMOS Technology , 2009 .

[12]  Katsuhiko Araki,et al.  A Novel Broadband Active Balun , 2003, 2003 33rd European Microwave Conference, 2003.

[13]  Sten E. Gunnarsson.  Analysis and Design of a Novel ×4 Sub-Harmonically Pumped Resistive HEMT Mixer , 2008 .

[14]  C.E. Saavedra,et al.  Active Quasi-Circulator MMIC Using OTAs , 2009, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters.

[15]  Jeng-Han Tsai,et al.  A Novel Reduced-Size Rat-Race Broadside Coupler and Its Application for CMOS Distributed Sub-Harmonic Mixer , 2008, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters.

[16]  Hwann-Kaeo Chiou,et al.  Compact 28-GHz subharmonically pumped resistive mixer MMIC using a lumped-element high-pass/band-pass balun , 2005 .

[17]  J. Graffeuil,et al.  Design of an original K-band active balun with improved broadband balanced behavior , 2005, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters.

[18]  Yeong-Her Wang,et al.  A 23–37 GHz Miniature MMIC Subharmonic Mixer , 2007, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters.

[19]  Huei Wang,et al.  A 60 GHz Sub-Harmonic Resistive FET Mixer Using 0.13 $\mu{\rm m}$ CMOS Technology , 2011, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters.

[20]  Huei Wang,et al.  A 1.5–9.6 GHz Monolithic Active Quasi-Circulator in 0.18 $\mu{\rm m}$ CMOS Technology , 2008, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters.

[21]  V. Krozer,et al.  A High Conversion-Gain $Q$-Band InP DHBT Subharmonic Mixer Using LO Frequency Doubler , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.

[22]  J. E. Degenford,et al.  Harmonic Mixing with an Anti-Parallel Diode Pair , 1974 .

[23]  E. Bergeault,et al.  Noise and power optimization of a MMIC quasi-circulator , 1997 .

[24]  Huei Wang,et al.  A W-band subharmonically pumped monolithic GaAs-based HEMT gate mixer , 2004, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters.

[25]  Jing-Lin Kuo,et al.  A 60 GHz Sub-Harmonic Resistive FET Mixer Using 0.13 CMOS Technology , 2011 .

[26]  Chien-Nan Kuo,et al.  Low power 8-GHz ultra-wideband active balun , 2006, Digest of Papers. 2006 Topical Meeting on Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits in RF Systems.

[27]  W. Weedon,et al.  MMIC-Based Quadrature Hybrid Quasi-Circulators for Simultaneous Transmit and Receive , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.

[28]  S.E. Gunnarsson.  Analysis and Design of a Novel $\times$4 Subharmonically Pumped Resistive HEMT Mixer , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.

[29]  Gabriel M. Rebeiz,et al.  A high-performance W-band uniplanar subharmonic mixer , 1997 .

[30]  Chao-Wei Wang,et al.  CMOS Active Quasi-Circulator With Dual Transmission Gains Incorporating Feedforward Technique at $K$-Band , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.

[31]  Jui-Yi Lin,et al.  Symmetric Offset Stack Balun in Standard 0.13-$\mu{\hbox {m}}$ CMOS Technology for Three Broadband and Low-Loss Balanced Passive Mixer Designs , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.