A low-power ka-band direct conversion receiver employing half-frequency local oscillator in 65nm CMOS

Direct conversion to DC by means of quadrature SubHarmonic mixers is a promising solution to arrive at low power silicon receivers working at millimeter waves. A lower frequency local oscillator (LO) does not compromise receiver performances while takes advantage of the higher quality of tuning elements and avoids high frequency, power-hungry dividers in the synthesizer. This paper summarizes our recent research efforts to arrive at a low power receiver architecture tailored to Ka band operation. The receiver IC, implemented in a 65 nm CMOS technology, displays 31.5 dB gain and 6.7 dB NF. The LO has an outstanding frequency tuning range of 26.5% with -110 dBc/Hz phase noise at 1 MHz offset. Total power dissipation is 78 mW only.