A Low-Power Broadband 200 GHz Down-Conversion Mixer with Integrated LO-Driver in 0.13 src='/images/tex/241.gif' alt='mu'> m SiGe BiCMOS

摘要

This letter presents an active 200 GHz fundamental down-conversion mixer based on the Micromixer topology for low-power high data-rate wireless communications. The mixer-core operation requires a 5 dBm LO-signal, which is generated on-chip from an external single-ended source of only 20 dBm by means of a power-efficient LO-driver and a passive balun. Mixer, LO-driver and balun have been implemented together in a 450 GHz SiGe BiCMOS technology occupying a circuit core area of 0.21 mm. For a 200 GHz LO-signal, the characterized circuit exhibits a maximum conversion gain of 5.5 dB over a 3 dB RF-bandwidth of 30 GHz, requiring only 17.4 and 22.5 mW of DC-power in the mixer core and in the LO-driver, respectively.