A distributed upconverter MMIC with composite right/left handed transmission lines

We propose a distributed upconverter with composite right/left handed (CRLH) transmission lines (TLs) and its design method. An upconverter MMIC is fabricated by using this design method. The upconverter shows frequency dividing operation by setting RF, LO, and IF frequencies, and achieves image rejection features without image rejection filters or blocks. In the right hand range, upper side band (USB) signals are generated at the forward port, and low side band (LSB) signals are suppressed by more than 10 dB compared with USB ones. In the left hand range, the LSB signals are generated at the backward port. USB signals are also suppressed by more than 10 dB compared with LSB ones.