A High Conversion Gain Mixer with Active Balun for UWB and WiMAX Systems

Z. C. Su, Z. M. Lin, and J. Y. Lyu

Abstract - This paper proposed a dual-mode down-conversion mixer for 3.1-10.6 GHz UWB and 2-11 GHz WiMAX systems. A full integrated 20 MHz IF with active output balun is designed for the mixer. The simulated conversion gains are 15.7 dB to 16.6 dB and 14.5 dB to 14.3 dB for UWB and WiMAX, respectively. Based on the TSMC 0.18 gm CMOS RF technology, the simulated IIP3 are -4.419 dB and 4.915 dB, for UWB and WiMAX, respectively. Both consume 10.2 mA of current from a 1.8V supply.
It is difficult to design a dual-mode direct conversion mixer for both WiMAX and UWB systems. Because it has two different stands of IF signals, 20 MHz and 100MHz, hence, the mixer will require high conversion gain and high data rate. Besides, the design of a mixer has a trade off on conversion gain and linearity. Therefore, new techniques needed to be designed to satisfy the requirement on

I. INTRODUCTION
Ultra Wideband (UWB) system was popular technologies for wireless communication systems and local area networks. The UWB band (3.1V10.6 GHz) consists of and has received significant attention in RFIC design. UWB divides the 7.5 GHz bandwidth into 14 channels with 528 MHz bandwidth. Mainly, the UWB system designs are focused on providing a low power, low cost, and wideband performance in a short distance. WiMAX is the acronym for "World Interoperability for Microwave Access", specified by IEEE 802.16e and its subsequent standards [2]. It can access as high as 100 Mbps data rates in a 20 MHz bandwidth. The coverage area of WiMAX is around 30 to 50 kilometers, which surpass the coverage barrier in wireless wideband access. WiMAX, as a M\AN access scheme, adopts advanced technologies to cope with both NLOS (Nnoe Line of Sight) and OLOS (Obstruct Line of Sight) transmission condition. WiMAX can be the connection point for hot spots in WLAN and Internet, and can also be the expanded 3G wireless access method for enterprise TI, xDSL and Cable Modem. It may be a substitute for wired broad band access. The down-conversion mixer is an important element in WiMAX/UWB receiver. Many have been published for UWB systems. For example, the Gilbert cell based mixer for 0.3 to 25 GHz in [4], and 3.1 to 10.6 GHz in [5]. The reported GaAs-based distributed mixers from 2 to 14 GHz [6]. Although good performances were achieved, the works mentioned above do not have high enough conversion gain for WiMAX/UWB system applications.

conversion gain, noise figure, and IIP3. In this paper, we use the current reuse [7] and the dynamic injection technique [8] to increase the conversion gain with good flatness and to reduce the noise figure. In

order to measure 20 MHz of IF, we designed an output

active balun for 50 Q output matching. Simulation results show that the designed mixer is suitable for WiMAX/UWB

applications.

several sub-bands with a channel bandwidth of 528 \Mz [1],

II. CIRCUIT DESIGN AND ANALYSIS

In order to design a mixer for both UWB and WiMAX systems, beside the challenge on well performance of linearity, conversion gain, noise figure, and power consumption, the design of satisfied IF for both systems is the most difficult one. Hence, the mixer is designed and formed by three sub-circuits, the input matching network, the mixer core, and the output active balun, subject to the UWB and WiMAX specifications. A. Mixer Core

In order to achieve high conversion gain, low noise figure and high IIP3, we bring in the current-reuse bleeding technique [8] and a LC filter and noise cancellation technique [9], based on the traditional double-balanced Gilbert cell mixer, to form a new schematic. The designed mixer core is shown in Fig. 1. The mixer consists of a transconductance stage, a switching stage, a load stage, and an output stage. The differential input RF signals are amplified by the transconductance stage that is composed of transistors MI and M2. The switching stage which comprises M3, M4, M5, and M6 is used to mix the differential signals of RF and LO. The drain currents of transistors M3, M4, M5, and M6 flow through the load stage formed by PMOS transistors ML 1, ML2 and resistors RL 1, and RL2. The voltage drop on Z. M. Lin, Z. C. Su, and J. Y. Lyu are with the Graduate the load stage is determined by the widths ofML1 and ML2. Institute of Integrated Circuit Design, National Changhua In order to get small voltage drop, we can increase the University of Education, Changhua, Taiwan, R.O.C. widths of ML1 and ML2 and thus increase the conversion imi E-mail: nu~d.wgain. However, if we increase the widths of MLl and ML2,

1-4244-0637-4/07/$20.OO C2007 IEEE

981

ML 1 and ML2 will operate in saturation region and will decrease the performance on linearity. Therefore, it is a trade off design between conversion gain and linearity. In a direct conversion receiver, the transconductance stage will contribute white noise to the output. The current-reuse bleeding circuit that comprises MP4 and MP5 shown in Fig. 2 can reduce the flicker noise and increase the conversion gain. The presence of LI will reduce the impedance of the second harmonic frequency. In other words, the product of the current components at the high-order harmonic frequencies and inter-modulation running through common nodes with M3, M4 and M5, M6 are suppressed. Therefore IIP3 can be improved. High and flat conversion gain from 2 to 11 GHz and the NF can be adjusted by LI, C1 and C2. PMOS transistors MP1, MP2 and MP3 form a current source into point IF+ and IF-. New technique can increase 1OdB with conversion gain and can thus conform to WiMAX's high gain standard. The proposed mixer has better performances on linearity, noise figure and gain as compared to the previously reported designs.

Li
R i

I I

Rou

12

C(21
LO out

LO in
3

4r
Fig. 2. RF and LO input matching network. C. Active Balun and Buffer Fig. 3 shows the buffer for 50 Q output matching network and the on-wafer active balun for transferring differential signals to single-end signals IF. The balun consist of a transconductance stage formed by NMOS transistors M7 and M8 and a load stage formed by ML3, ML4, RL3, and RL4, and a buffer stage formed by M9, MI 0. In order to measure IF 20 llz signals, hence we designed active balun and buffer.

MLI
RH'S
R1.

ML2

\t1

ltD
IF

E;j

11I

IFI<3
I

6VDD
ML|
I
M6
V [IF
1.

ML34 F

LO-

~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~F ~ ~ +v11 MP5~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1 2,, | 11 4

Ct:5

I I

dIF-

1 t

L
mI

L.

C) Il

Fig. 3. Active balun and buffer.

Fig. 1. Schematic of the proposed mixer.

B. Input Matching Network

u1. SIMULATION RESULT

matching network less than -1OdB. The simulated return losses SI I, S22, S33 are shown in Fig. 4, Fig. 5, and Fig. 6, respectively. We design the mixer with -30dB power of input RF signal and 0 dBm power of input LO signal subject to the IEEE 802.16a standard. The
In order to design the fully integrated WiMAX/UWB mixer, we set the return loss of

provide better matching for wide-band. Due to the reduction of single losses, the return losses of the RF and LO port are reduced to less than -1l5 dB for the whole band.

Fig. 2 shows the RF and LO input matching network for UWB and WiMAX system. In order to achieve wide-band property for 2 to 11 GHz, we use passive components such as spiral inductor, ploy/diffusion resistor and MIM (metal-insulator-metal) capacitors to match for the 50 Q input matching network of RF and LO. The matching network compensates the effect of the pad capacitors Cl. The L-type network composes by Li, Ri, and C2, which

WiMAX's output IF frequency is 20 MHz. We also sweep the input RF firom 2 to ii GHz to get the conversion gain, 11P3, noise figure, and isolation among RF, LO, and IF ports. The simulated results are shown in Fig. 7, Fig. 8, Fig. 9, Fig.

982

1,respectively. The conversion gain is distributed between 15 to 18dB. The obtained 11P3 ate distributed from -4.4dB to 4.9dB for the full band. The use of current-reuse bleeding circuit reduces the noise figure from 46 dB to 24.8 -23.9 dB. The simulated isolation for RF, LO, and IF are also much better than that of the other reported works. ~1
freq2

mui

m12u
.000 GHZ
freql .00G Hz

dB(S(l,l))_-16896 dB(S(111j))=-61672
mum12
-40

13I

o
-10

Fig. 7. Simulated conversion gain with 0 dBm LO power.

140

LO Power

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~120LL
C

00

10

12

14

16

18

20

Fig. 4. Simulated RF return loss for 2 to 11I GHz.

RF Freq (GHz)

0~

~ ~ ~ ~

~~~~~~~~~~~4-

f0

l240GH
~~ rn8~

14 150GH

lBO

3C

Fi.5SimulatedmulaLO f2oto returnon lossnpfrom 11 IGHz. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

21 ~ ~
0

a) -2

18.
0 2

10

12

14

16

IS

20~~~~~~(

~~~~-1o ~

FFrq(PZ

Z 17~

Fi.. ft20 13 2100M z ~i1

14

Simulated return loss for 20 IF lBVSll24z)an

1 g2

610 MHz

f Fig. 10. Simulated conversiongainrom 2.to 11. GHz.

RFFreqenc LOOIM uH

0~~~~~~~~~~8

1 IV. CONCLUSION

4-

2 -2

Xf

Xf

l_____________________
C) 0 C) 4D

0
CD

~0 0: )
CD CD

0
C)i

0 ~0 iD

I ,0

~O

RF Frequency Fig. 11. IIP3 versus RF frequency with the IF frequency of 20 MHz and the LO power is 0 dBm.

The designed dual-mode mixer can cover 2-11 GHz and 3.1-10.6 GHz for WiMAX and UWB direct-conversion receiver. The mixer includes an output active balun for the measurement of 20 MHz IF. The core of the mixer was designed based on the Gilbert structure and a dynamic _ Jlinjection current circuit is improved to reduce the noise figure and conversion gain. With the new techniques, the designed mixer increases O1dB conversion gains, hence can O Q)C (D Q conform to WiMAX and UWB standards. The simulated RF and LO return losses are better than -10 dB.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work was supported in part by the National Chip Tiwok asupporenpar bythNainlCp Implementation Center and by the National Science Council of Taiwan, R.O.C., under Grants 96-2221-E-018-024.

The simulated power consumption of the whole chiTh without buffer is 10.2 mW. The layout diagram of the proposed mixer for WiMAX/UWB system is shown in Fig. 12. We use TSMC 0.18 im CMOS 1P6M process to design this chip. The pads on the layout diagram are placed according on-wafer measurement. The total chip area of the layout is 1.1 x 1.0 mm2. Table I lists the reported conversion gain among different reported works. From Table I, it can be observed that this work attains the highest conversion gain.
TABLE I COMPARISON OF THE REPORTED MIXERSg IF RF Gain (MHz IIP3 Process G Process ( NA GaAs (GHz)-17 (MHz) 9d) 9.3 GaAs N/A 1317 10 11 N/A 0.3>25 10 0.18pm

REFERENCES

[1]

R. Harjani, J. Harvey, and R. Sainati, "Analog/RFphysical layer issues for UWB systems," in Proceeding 1 7th International Conference on VLSI Design, 2004, pp. 941948.
B. Tzeng, C.-H. Lien, H. Wang, Y.-C. Wang, P.-C. CHao, and C.-H. Chen, "A 1-17-GHz InGaP-GaAs HET MMIC analog multiplier and mixer with broad-band input-matching networks," IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory

[3]

[2]

http://www.ieee802.org/16/docs/02/C80216-02_05.PDF

(GHIz)

[3] [4]

[4]

[5]
[6]
UWB

6 2-14
6 2-11

3.1V10.

10
70

10 3>0
6

CMOS

N/A

CMOS Hybrid

0.18ptm

[5]

3.1A10.

100
20

17A19.
15-18

0-5.7
-4.4-4

0.18jtm

WiM AX

.9

0.18pm CMOS

CMOS

[6]

using commercial 0.18- m CMOS technology," IEEE Microw. Wireless Compon. Lett., vol. 14, no. 11, pp. 522-524, Nov. 2004. A. Motieifar, Z.A.Pour, G. Bridges, C. Shafai, S, "An ultra wideband (uwb) mixer with 0.18um rf cmos technology," Electrical and Computer Engineering, Candian Conference, May 2006, pp. 697-700. A. H. Darsinoojeh and 0. Palamutcuoglu, "on the theory MESFET distributed mixers," in Proc. 8th Mediterranean Electrotechnial Conf, (MELECON), vol. 1, May 1996, pp.

mixer

Tech., vol. 50, no. 11, pp. 2564 -2568, Nov. 2002. M.-D. Tsai and H. Wang, "A 0.3-25-GHz ultra-wideband g

and design of subharmonically drain pumped microwave

595-598.

[7]

[8]

S.-G. Lee and J.-K Choi, "Current-reuse bleeding mixer," Electronic Letters, vol. 36, no. 8, pp. 696- 697, April 2000. Hooman. Darabi and Janice. Chiu, "A noise cancellation technique in active-RF CMOS mixers," IEEE Journal of

Solid-State Circuits, vol. 40, no. 12, pp. 2628-2632, Dec. 2005.

Fig. 12. Layout of the proposed mixer for WiMAX/UWB.

984