Abstract

This paper demonstrates a small compact 5.7 GHz upconversion Gilbert micromixer using 0.35 m SiGe HBT technology. A micromixer has a broadband matched single-ended input port. A passive LC current combiner is used to convert micromixer differential output into a singleended output and doubles the output current for singleended-input and single-ended-output applications. Thus, a truly balanced operation of a Gilbert upconversion mixer with a single-ended input and a single-ended output is achieved in this paper. The fully matched upconversion micromixer has conversion gain of –4 dB, OP1dB of –9.5 dBm and OIP3 of –1.5 dBm when input IF=0.3 GHz, LO=5.4 GHz and output RF=5.7 GHz. The IF input return loss is better than 18 dB for frequencies up to 20 GHz while RF output return loss is 25 dB at 5.7GHz. The supply voltage is 3.3V and the current consumption is 4.6 mA. The die size is 0.9 0.9 mm2with 3 integrated on-chip inductors.