Self-Oscillating Mixing Technique and its Application to Low-Cost Receiver Architectures

Self-oscillating mixers (SOMs) are an excellent choice for low-cost modern receiver architectures, because both the oscillating source and the mixer are combined in one single device. Moreover, subharmonic operation reduces LO frequency requirements and therefore provides a very good choice for millimeter-wave systems. In this paper, a fully-balanced SOM structure at high harmonics with high conversion gain is presented. The balanced structure provides inherent RF-LO isolation and suppression of harmonics and noise as well as it removes the input balun from the design, which permits integration into a monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC)