Design and Optimization of a Direct-Conversion Double-Balanced Mixer for RF Receiver Front-End

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18063/peee.v1i3.800

Keywords:

Double-balanced mixer, direct conversion, conversion gain, noise figure, RF front-end

Abstract

Differential implementation is becoming highly favoured in RFIC (radio frequency integrated circuit) design, notably its high immunity to common-mode noises, acceptable rejection of parasitic coupling, and increased dynamic range. One specific RF front-end building block that is usually designed as a differential circuit is the mixer.  This technical paper presents a study of a differential mixer, notably the double-balanced mixer implemented on a direct-conversion architecture in a standard 90nm CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) process.  Operating frequency is set at 5GHz, which is a typical frequency for RF (radio frequency) receiver.   Impedance matching was essential to fully optimize the mixer design.  The direct-conversion double-balance mixer design eventually achieved conversion gain of 11.463dB and noise figure of 16.529dB, comparable to mixer designs from past research and studies.

Author Biography

Frederick Ray Gomez, STMicroelectronics, Inc.

Member of Technical Staff

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Published

2020-12-08

Issue

Vol 3, No 1 (Published)

Section

Articles

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