InAlAs/InGaAs HBT X-band double-balanced upconverter

The authors report on an InAlAs/InGaAs HBT Gilbert cell double-balanced mixer which upconverts a 3 GHz IF signal to an RF frequency of 5-12 GHz. The mixer cell achieves a conversion loss of between 0.8 dB and 2.6 dB from 5 to 12 GHz. The LO-RF and IF-RF isolation are better than 30 dB at an LO drive of +5 dBm across the RF band. A predistortion circuit is used to increase the linear input power range of the LO port to above +5 dBm. Discrete amplifiers designed for the IF and RF frequency ports make up the complete upconverter architecture which achieves a conversion gain of 40 dB for an RF output bandwidth of 10 GHz. The upconverter chip set fabricated with InAlAs/InGaAs HBTs demonstrates the widest gain-bandwidth performance of a Gilbert cell based upconverter compared to previous GaAs and InP HBT or Si-bipolar ICs.<>