Compact and low power consuming frequency/phase multiplier MMICs for wireless LAN at S-band and C-band

Active, monolithically integrated S-band (1.1-2.2 GHz) and C-band (2.2-4.4 GHz) frequency/phase doublers with ultra-compact circuit areas of less than 0.6 mm² and 0.5 mm², respectively, are presented using a commercial 0.6 μm GaAs MESFET technology. These circuits were designed for low-power-consuming adaptive antenna receivers, operating in accordance with the high-performance radio local area network (HIPERLAN) and 802.11a standards. Cascading of the two doublers enables phase control range quadruplication of low cost phase shifters with 90° phase control range in the local oscillator (LO) path. Thus, a phase control range of 360° with low amplitude variations is reached in the radio frequency (RF) path, as required for adaptive antenna combining. Simulations performed using the modified MESFET large signal model show excellent agreement with measured results. At an ultra-low supply voltage of 0.9 V, a supply current of 5.8 mA and an input power of only -8 dBm, a conversion gain of 0.5 dB was measured for the quadrupler circuit. To the knowledge of the authors, the circuits present the best results for frequency multipliers in terms of power consumption and miniaturisation, reported to date.