Low Cost Ka-Band Mixers for Industrial Applications

The development of more reliable and efficient solid-state sources up to the sub-mm-wave range has stimulated new interest in commercial applications. Three different approaches in this area can be distinguished, radar, radiometry and transmission measurement. Most of these applications work within short distances, up to about 10 m, thus leaving a high system back up. However, particular system requirements can be satisfied, using mm-wave components with reduced performance data. On this basis a hybrid Ka-Band mixer configuration was developed, using low cost "chip and wire" technique. A DSB noise figure of 9.8 dB was achieved at 35 GHz.