60 GHz SiGe BiCMOS dual conversion down converter: Schottky diode RF mixer and analog Gilbert IF mixer with microwave quadrature generator
A 60 GHz dual conversion down converter using 0.35 mm SiGe BiCMOS process is demonstrated in this paper. A Schottky diode ring mixer with wideband Marchand balun works as the 60 GHz RF mixer while two analog Gilbert micromixers with LO port pumped by two quadrature couplers work as IF mixers. The cut off frequency of a Schottky diode makes a fundamental RF ring mixer possible because the series resistance of a Schottky diode is effectively reduced by the n+ buried layer in SiGe BiCMOS process. A Gilbert micromixer with an IF buffer is used to accommodate the single ended output of the RF ring mixer. By combining these advantages, a dual conversion down converter is achieved. The converter has about 8 dB conversion gain, 10 GHz RF bandwidth of 50 60 GHz, 100 MHz IF bandwidth when LO1 power is 8 dBm and LO2 power is 2 dBm.
2016 IEEE 16th Topical Meeting on Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits in RF Systems (SiRF)