The 1-V 24-GHz low-voltage low-power current-mode transmitter in 130-nm CMOS technology

Abstract

A new high frequency CMOS current-mode upconversion mixer is proposed to realize the transmitter frontend in the frequency band of 24 GHz. The transmitter integrates with a double-balance current-mode up-conversion mixer, an IF amplifier/repeater, a differential VCO and a differential VCO buffer/repeater. The performance of the transmitter exhibits a conversion gain of 1.3 dB, the input 1-dB compression point (P-1dB) is - 22 dBm, the input intercept 3(rd)-order compression point (P-IIP3) is - 8.75 dBm, and the output intercept 3(rd)-order compression point (P-OIP3) is - 7.44 dBm. The phase noise of the differential VCO is - 117 dBc/Hz at 10-MHz offset from 26 GHz. The proposed mixer consumes only 3.89 mW from a 1-V supply. The total power dissipation of the transmitter is 15.4 mW from 1-V supply. This chip is designed in 0.13-mu m 1P8M CMOS technology and under fabrication.