A 60 GHz frequency down-converter with divided LO output in an 80 GHz SiGe HBT technology

A fully integrated 60 GHz frequency down-converter with divided LO output for external PLL is presented in this paper. The circuit is realized in a 0.8 µm SiGe HBT process with fT/fmax of 80 GHz. It consists of a 60 GHz down-conversion mixer, a VCO at half the LO frequency, a frequency doubler and a divide by 32 frequency divider. With the VCO tuned to 33.8 GHz, the down-converter achieves a conversion gain of 0 dB at 60 GHz input and a 3 dB IF bandwidth of 12 GHz. The input 1-dB compression point is around −5 dBm. The output power of the divided LO signal is approximately −3 dBm, the measured phase noise at 1 MHz offset is −117 dBc/Hz. The complete down-converter draws 136 mA from a 4 V supply.