Design of broadband, highly integrated, 20-30 GHz and 35-45 GHz MMIC up-converters
The design of broadband, highly integrated up-converters is described. Two up-converters have been designed to reduce the complexity and cost of broadband millimetre wave systems by integrating a number of functions into a compact MMIC. Broadband performance was achieved for 20-30 GHz and 35-45 GHz with OIP3 exceeding 24 and 15 dBm, respectively; 2xLO leakage better than 3 dBm and excellent gain control. To our knowledge, this is the highest level of integration achieved for an up-converter at these frequencies.
Broadband Active and Passive Balun Circuits: Functional Blocks for Modern Millimeter-Wave Radio Architectures
This paper presents the design and the evaluation of a selection of broadband active and passive baluns. These balanced structures have been developed for future integration in monolithic millimeter-wave transceivers that deliver greater functionality than previously available. The paper presents two compact wideband active balun designs for the range 1 to 16 GHz and 10 to 30 GHz. Two passive baluns are also included, one for IF range 1.5 to 2.5 GHz and the other for the RF range 35 GHz to 45 GHz. The active baluns give a viable alternative to passive baluns within system constraints and a matrix of balun characteristics is presented to clearly indicate the appropriate choice for satisfying transceiver specifications
Stability envelope-new tool for generalised stability analysis
A new Nyquist-type method for stability analysis is presented. The envelope of the mapping from source and load impedance planes with "normalised determinant function" is determined for all passive terminations. The circuit is unconditionally stable if the origin is not encircled or included within the envelope. A single plot reveals instabilities, caused either by internal poles of the circuit or by arbitrary terminating impedances.