A Broadband Zero-IF Down-Conversion Mixer in 130 nm SiGe BiCMOS for Beyond 5G Communication Systems in D-Band

Titelangaben

Maiwald, Tim ; Potschka, Julian ; Kolb, Katharina ; Dietz, Marco ; Hagelauer, Amelie ; Visweswaran, Akshay ; Weigel, Robert:
A Broadband Zero-IF Down-Conversion Mixer in 130 nm SiGe BiCMOS for Beyond 5G Communication Systems in D-Band.
In: IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II : Express Briefs. Bd. 68 (2021) Heft 7 . - S. 2277-2281.
ISSN 1558-3791
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/TCSII.2021.3053344

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Abstract

This brief presents a broadband D-band down-conversion mixer in a cost efficient 130 nm SiGe BiCMOS technology with a ft/fmax of 250/370 GHz from Infineon Technologies AG. The proposed mixer covers the entire D-band with a 32 dB peak conversion gain and a 3 dB bandwidth of 35 GHz at a measured noise figure between 9.5 and 12 dB in the specified band while consuming only 65 mW DC power. To achieve large RF and IF bandwidths and a low noise figure, the mixer design is based on a low-biased switching quad, which is loaded with a modified Cherry-Hooper transimpedance amplifier. The results, which are verified by measurements, are based on a detailed analysis of the transistor characteristics, broadband matching networks and an appropriate layout parasitic extraction. All interfaces to the circuit are designed single-ended for a dense chip-to-package transition. For this purpose, high performance Marchand baluns are used at RF-and LO-port, respectively. With a moderate noise figure and a low power consumption, the presented circuit meets the requirements for beyond 5G systems.