A Wideband CMOS Down-conversion Mixer for 5G FR2 Applications

Beom Soo Bae; Jung Hwan Han

doi:10.23075/jicas.2022.8.3.006

Beom Soo Bae Chungnam National University https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6032-8356
Jung Hwan Han Chungnam National University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23075/jicas.2022.8.3.006

Keywords: 5G NR FR2, Active balun, CMOS, Down-Conversion mixer, Millimeter-wave, Wideband

Abstract

This paper presents a wideband complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) down-conversion mixer that supports a frequency range of 24−40 GHz. The proposed design is based on a double-balanced active mixer with wideband active and output baluns. In this design, the transconductance stage of the proposed mixer is composed of a parallel-connected common-gate and common-source amplifier structures for wideband input impedance matching and single-ended-to-differential signal conversion. The output active balun performs differential-to-single-ended conversion as well as a solid output impedance matching to drive a single-ended load of 50 Ω. The selected output intermediate frequency is 10 GHz. The proposed mixer is fabricated using a 65-nm CMOS process. Applying an external local oscillator input power of 5 dBm, the implemented design attains conversion gains of 3.87 dB and 1.5 dB, single sideband noise figures of 13.62 dB and 15.58 dB, input 1-dB compression points of −3.17 dBm and −0.87 dBm, and input referred third-order intercept points of 0.67 dBm and 3.74 dBm in the 28 GHz and 39 GHz bands, respectively. The implemented design consumes 9.75 mW with a nominal supply of 1.0 V. The active area, including pads, measures 0.87 mm × 0.46 mm (0.40 mm²).

Author Biographies

Beom Soo Bae, Chungnam National University

Beom Soo Bae received the B.S. degrees in radio engineering from Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Korea, in 2020, where he is currently pursuing the M.S. degrees in radio and information communications engineering. His research interests include RF and analog integrated circuit (RF/analog IC) designs for wireless applications.

Jung Hwan Han, Chungnam National University

Jung Hwan Han (S’05-M’08) received the B. S. degree (Hons.) from Inha University, Incheon, Korea, in 2002, the M. S. degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 2004, and the Ph. D. degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 2007, all in electrical engineering.

From 2008 to 2010, he was with Qualcomm Inc., Santa Clara, CA, where he designed and developed various CMOS RF front-end circuits for WLAN and GPS applications. From 2010 to 2017, he was a principal engineer with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Hwaseong, Korea where he was involved with the development of CMOS transceivers for various cellular applications. In 2017, he joined the department of Radio and Information Communication Engineering at Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Korea, where he is currently an assistant professor. His research interests include low-power analog and RF integrated circuit and system design for wireless communications.

Dr. Han was a recipient of the best paper award from IEEE Journal of Solid-State Cirsuits for 2008. He is serving as a Circuits and Systems for Communications (CASCOM) Technical Committee member of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society.

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