A fully single-ended GaInP/GaAs HBT micromixer using an integrated active LO balun

Abstract

A Gilbert micromixer is demonstrated in this paper using GaInP/GaAS HBT technology. By using an on-chip active LO balun, the micromixer with the single-ended RF, LO, and IF ports is suitable for hybrid RF system applications. The port-to-port isolation has its best performance when the LO signal is balanced. The fully matched high-linearity micromixer has the conversion gain of 12dB, IP1dB of -9 dBm, IIP3 of 1 dBm when f(IF(input)) = 300 MHz, f(LO) = 3.5 GHz, and f(RF(output)) = 3.8 GHz. (C) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.