Millimeter-wave mixer measurement: Comparison of different methods

This paper compares three different procedures for characterising the Noise Temperature and Conversion Loss of a millimetre wave mixer. To carry out this study a 183 GHz sub-harmonic mixer has been measured using three alternative procedures, i.e. the “Attenuator”, the “Gain” and the “Noise injection” procedures. Furthermore for every measurement procedure three different detection methods have been used; a Broadband Power Meter, a YIG Filter working together with a Broadband Power Meter and a Spectrum Analyser. The “Gain procedure” has turned out to be the most stable one in terms of less variation between consecutive values and flatter results along all the frequency range. Results obtained with every detection method are consistent with each other, showing a similar performance of the mixer independently the detection method used.