Resistive HEMT mixers for 60-GHz broad-band telecommunication

We report two resistive mixers, i.e., a balanced and a balanced image-rejection (IR) mixer for the 60-GHz frequency range. A compact and wide-band method for the local-oscillator (LO) power division is presented. The 56-GHz LO signal, which propagates in a coplanar-waveguide mode, is divided in between the lines of two spiral baluns. Consequently, a smooth and compact transition from even-to-odd propagation mode and an in-phase power division for two singly balanced unit mixers is achieved. As a result, the developed IR mixer occupies only 1.41mm² of chip area. The balanced design achieved 11.5 dB of conversion loss from 57 to 67 GHz with a fixed IF of 5.3 GHz. The corresponding LO suppression was better than 34 dB with 8 dBm of LO power. The IR mixer achieved better than 19 dB of IR ratio and better than 36 dB of LO suppression for an RF frequency from 57 to 66 GHz. The corresponding conversion loss varies from 13 to 16 dB. The measured 1-dB compression point of the IR mixer was at a -13-dBm output power level and the third-order intercept point was at a 4-dBm level.