SEMICONDUCTOR INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

An I/Q mixer with an integrated differential quadrature all-pass filter for on-chip quadrature LO signal generation

Najam Muhammad Amin, Zhigong Wang and Zhiqun Li

+ Author Affiliations

 Corresponding author: Najam Muhammad Amin, E-mail: najam.m.amin@seu.edu.cn; Zhigong Wang, E-mail: zgwang@seu.edu.cn

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Abstract: A down-conversion in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) mixer employing a folded-type topology, integrated with a passive differential quadrature all-pass filter (D-QAF), in order to realize the final down-conversion stage of a 60 GHz receiver architecture is presented in this work. Instead of employing conventional quadrature generation techniques such as a polyphase filter or a frequency divider for the local oscillator (LO) of the mixer, a passive D-QAF structure is employed. Fabricated in a 65 nm CMOS process, the mixer exhibits a voltage gain of 7-8 dB in an intermediate frequency (IF) band ranging from 10 MHz-1.75 GHz. A fixed LO frequency of 12 GHz is used to down-convert a radio frequency (RF) band of 10.25-13.75 GHz. The mixer displays a third order input referred intercept point (IIP3) ranging from -8.75 to -7.37 dBm for a fixed IF frequency of 10 MHz and a minimum single-sideband noise figure (SSB-NF) of 11.3 dB. The mixer draws a current of 6 mA from a 1.2 V supply voltage dissipating a power of 7.2 mW.

Key words: folded I/Q mixerLO generationdifferential quadrature all-pass filter



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Fig. 1.  The 60 GHz receiver architecture with the focus of this work highlighted.

Fig. 2.  (a) Schematics of the proposed quadrature mixer. (b) Self-bias current reuse transconductance stage. (c) Small-signal equivalent circuit of the transconductance stage.

Fig. 3.  D-QAF filter transformations; the in-phase output ($V_{\rm I+}$) displays (a) high-pass characteristics with respect to input $V_{\rm LO+}$, and (b) low-pass characteristics with respect to input $V_{\rm LO-}$, whereas the quadrature output ($V_{\rm Q+}$) displays (c) low-pass characteristics with respect to input $V_{\rm LO+}$ and (d) high-pass characteristics with respect to input $V_{\rm LO-}$. Similar high-pass and low-pass characteristics can be observed for the outputs $V_{\rm I-}$ and $V_{\rm Q-}$.

Fig. 4.  Amplitude and phase errors of the D-QAF versus quality factor.

Fig. 5.  Quadrature amplitude and phase errors due to capacitive loading.

Fig. 6.  The effect of component variations on quadrature amplitude and phase. (a) All filter components vary simultaneously. (b) Only the filter's Q-branch components vary with respect to their nominal values.

Fig. 7.  The effect of frequency deviation in different process corners on (a) quadrature amplitude and (b) phase.

Fig. 8.  The effect of temperature variations on quadrature errors.

Fig. 9.  A chip photograph of the fabricated quadrature mixer.

Fig. 10.  Measured (I-branch) and simulated voltage gain versus frequency.

Fig. 11.  Measured (I/Q) and simulated voltage gains versus LO power.

Fig. 12.  Measured (I-branch) and simulated NF versus frequency.

Fig. 13.  Measured (I-branch) and simulated third-order input intercept point and input referred compression over frequency.

Fig. 14.  Quadrature output mismatches between the I- and Q-mixer branches versus IF frequency.

Fig. 15.  Isolation characteristics of the mixer versus frequency.

Fig. 16.  Time-domain waveforms of the IQ-mixer output at an IF of 1 GHz ($f_{\rm RF}$ $=$ 13 GHz and $f_{\rm LO}$ $=$ 12 GHz).

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Table 1.   Comparisons with previous works.

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    Received: 29 October 2014 Revised: Online: Published: 01 May 2015

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      Najam Muhammad Amin, Zhigong Wang, Zhiqun Li. An I/Q mixer with an integrated differential quadrature all-pass filter for on-chip quadrature LO signal generation[J]. Journal of Semiconductors, 2015, 36(5): 055001. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/36/5/055001 N M Amin, Z G Wang, Z Q Li. An I/Q mixer with an integrated differential quadrature all-pass filter for on-chip quadrature LO signal generation[J]. J. Semicond., 2015, 36(5): 055001. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/36/5/055001.Export: BibTex EndNote
      Citation:
      Najam Muhammad Amin, Zhigong Wang, Zhiqun Li. An I/Q mixer with an integrated differential quadrature all-pass filter for on-chip quadrature LO signal generation[J]. Journal of Semiconductors, 2015, 36(5): 055001. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/36/5/055001

      N M Amin, Z G Wang, Z Q Li. An I/Q mixer with an integrated differential quadrature all-pass filter for on-chip quadrature LO signal generation[J]. J. Semicond., 2015, 36(5): 055001. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/36/5/055001.
      Export: BibTex EndNote

      An I/Q mixer with an integrated differential quadrature all-pass filter for on-chip quadrature LO signal generation

      doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/36/5/055001
      Funds:

      Project supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (No.2011AA010200).

      More Information
      • Corresponding author: E-mail: najam.m.amin@seu.edu.cn; E-mail: zgwang@seu.edu.cn
      • Received Date: 2014-10-29
      • Accepted Date: 2014-11-26
      • Published Date: 2015-01-25

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