An 18 to 40GHz Double Balanced Mixer MMIC

The paper will describe the design and evaluation of a broadband, passive mixer IC. The RF frequency range is 18 to 40GHz, the LO 20 to 42GHz and the IF 0.4 to 16.5 GHz. A double balanced topology is used, which functions well as either an upconverter or a downconverter. The RF and LO ports are single-ended and the IC incorporates on-chip baluns to provide the differential interfaces with the double balanced mixer. The IF interface to the MMIC is differential. The IC was designed on the PP15-20, 0.15??m gate length PHEMT process of WIN Semiconductor and is currently in fabrication. It has a simulated conversion loss of ≪10dB, for an LO drive of +10dBm, and an LO rejection of ≫ 30dB. It is expected that the full paper will include comprehensive details of the measured performance.