A hybrid broadband microwave triple balanced mixer based on silicon crossed quad diodes

Triple balanced mixers (TBM) are ideally suited for use in heterodyne transceivers with great signal bandwidths. The design and construction of a hybrid broadband TBM based on commercial silicon crossed quad diodes is presented. Broadband planar baluns and the use of balanced edge and broadside coupled striplines allow for covering an RF / LO frequency range of 1 GHz to 35 GHz and at least 10 GHz IF bandwidth, if we claim for up- and downconversion loss values below 15 dB. This is achieved with local oscillator power levels P_LO ∈ [10,14] dBm and an input 1 dB compression point of 6 dBm. The paper includes spectral measurement data which are in reasonable agreement with the simulation results that are based on a co-simulation procedure between 3D electromagnetic field (EM) simulations and nonlinear harmonic balance circuit simulations.