High Conversion Gain Up-Converter with +5 dBm OP1dB in InP DHBT Technology for Ultra Capacity Wireless Applications

• Published in: 2021 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS) pp. 290 - 293
• Main Authors: Hossain, M., Shivan, T., Brahem, M., Yacoub, H., Heinrich, W., Krozer, V.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 07-06-2021
• Subjects: Gilbert cell mixer (GC); III-V semiconductor materials; InP double heterojunction bipolar transistor (DHBT); Marchand balun; Microwave circuits; Microwave communication; Microwave integrated circuits; Microwave oscillators; Microwave transistors; millimeter wave up-converter; monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC); transferred-substrate process (TS); Wireless communication
• ISSN: 2576-7216
• DOI: 10.1109/IMS19712.2021.9574966

A fundamental frequency up-converter for ultra-capacity wireless applications with high conversion gain is presented, realized as double-balanced Gilbert cell mixer using an 800 nm transferred substrate (TS) InP-DHBT technology. The local oscillator (LO) input of the mixer operates from 96 to 110 GHz and requires an input power of 6 dBm. The up converter achieves a single sideband (SSB) peak conversion gain of 17 dB at 145 GHz and > 10 dB in the frequency range 141-149 GHz. It reaches a high output P 1dB (OP 1dB ) of more than +5 dBm, which assures a high dynamic range of the communication system. The up-converter offers an intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth of more than 10 GHz in the Q-band, at a DC consumption of only 25 mW. The high IF frequency allows to reuse existing and commercial wireless systems at mm-wave frequencies up to 60 GHz. To the knowledge of the authors, this is the highest conversion gain and OP 1dB published for an up-converted frequency beyond 100 GHz.