Module 3

RF/Microwave Mixer Design

Dr. Shilpa Kharche

Terna Engineering College, Nerul

1
 Mixer
▪ Itis a device used to translate a signal of one
frequency to another.
▪ An RF Mixer is a 3 port passive or active
device
that can modulate or demodulate the signal.
▪ The purpose is to change the frequency of
EM signal, while preserving every other
characteristic such as phase and amplitude
of the initial signal.
▪ Mixers perform frequency translation by
multiplying two waveforms (and possibly
their harmonics).
▪ A nonlinear component can generate a
wide variety of harmonics and other
products of input frequencies, so filtering
must be used to select the desired
frequency components.
 Mixer
• Mixers takes the input signals of two frequencies and generates multiple frequencies at output. This is not
possible using linear device.
• Therefore, a nonlinear device like BJT, FET and diodes are used which can generate multiple harmonics
• Both diode and BJT have an exponential transfer characteristics. e.g.

• For MESFET, we have approximately square behaviour

This voltage V is applied to the nonlinear device whose current output characteristics can be calculated using
Taylor’s Series Expansion around the Q point
Less selective filtering is required if signal is down-converted

An RF channel with a center frequency of 1.89 GHz and bandwidth of 20 MHz is to be down-converted to an IF
of 200 MHz. Select an appropriate fLO. Find the quality factor Q of a bandpass filter to select this channel if no
down-conversion is involved and determine Q of the bandpass filter after down-conversion.

fIF = 200 MHz, fRF = 1.89 GHz

Therefore, fLO = 1.69 GHz or 2.09 GHz
Both of these are equally valid and used in practice
When fRF < fLO → High Side Injection and when fRF > fLO → Low Side Injection

Before down-conversion Bandwidth = 20 MHz and fRF = 1.89 GHz, Therefore

After down-conversion, Bandwidth = 20 MHz and fIF = 200 MHz, Therefore

• Low side injection is sometime preferred because lower LO frequencies are easier to
generate and process

• Sometimes receivers use a local oscillator set at the upper sideband, fLO = fRF + fIF,
because this requires a smaller LO tuning ratio when the receiver must select RF signals
over a given band.
 Mixing
Frequency up-conversion
• Occurs in a transmitter.
• A local oscillator (LO) signal at the relatively high frequency fLO is
connected to one of the input ports of the mixer.

The output of the idealized mixer is given by the product of the LO and IF signals:

where K is a constant accounting for the voltage

conversion loss of the mixer.

• The mixer has the effect of modulating the LO signal with the IF signal.
• The sum and difference frequencies at fLO ± fIF are called the sidebands of the carrier frequency
fLO, with fLO + fIF being the upper sideband (USB), and fLO − fIF being the lower sideband (LSB).
• A double-sideband (DSB) signal contains both upper and lower sidebands, while a single-sideband
(SSB) signal can be produced by filtering or by using a single-sideband mixer.
 Mixing
Frequency down-conversion
• The process of frequency down-conversion, as used in a receiver.
• A local oscillator (LO) signal at the relatively high frequency fLO is
connected to one of the input ports of the mixer.

• The output of the idealized mixer is given by the product of the LO and
IF signals:

• The RF and LO frequencies are relatively close together, so the sum frequency is approximately twice the RF
frequency, while the difference is much smaller than fRF.
• The desired IF output in a receiver is the difference frequency, fRF − fLO, which is easily selected by low-
pass filtering
 Image Frequency
• In a receiver, antenna may receive RF signals over a relatively wide band of frequencies.
• For a receiver with an LO frequency fLO and IF frequency fIF, the RF input frequency that will be down-
converted to the IF frequency as
fRF = fLO + fIF

Now fRF = fLO – fIF = fIM

The RF frequency fIM is called the
image response. The image
response is important in receiver
design because a received RF signal
at the image frequency is
indistinguishable at the IF stage
from the desired RF signal.

▪ The image signal will be down-converted to IF and it will corrupt the channel.

▪ Image Band reject filter can be used for Image rejection.

▪ We must use Image reject filter even in the absence of image, Since the thermal noise is produced by LNA

and antenna and can be transferred to IF

Where to place Image reject filter ?

After LNA
▪ Filter has loss and noise therefore, If it is placed before LNA then it will highly contribute to receivers noise figure.
▪ However, if it is placed after LNA then the noise of the image reject filter is divided by gain of LNA.

This way one can reduce the amplitude of the image signal. However, the selectivity and out of band attenuation offered by
image rejection filter is not enough

Image rejection vs. Channel Selection

Case1: When local oscillator frequency is far from channel frequency (High IF)

Advantage: Maximizing image rejection we don’t need High Q filter

Disadvantage: Since IF is high, it is challenging to design high Q

channel select filter
Case2: When local oscillator frequency is close to channel frequency (Low IF)

Advantage: Because of Low IF, it is feasible to design high Q filter to maximize

channel selection.

Disadvantage: Since image is close to the channel, we can attenuate it to some

extent but it is difficult to reject it completely.
 Dual Conversion
To resolve the problem with image rejection and channel selection Heterodyne receiver can be extended to multiple down
conversions
1st IF: Choosing high IF for maximizing Image rejection
2nd IF: To translate channel to lower IF for designing high Q filters and maximizing Channel Selection
 Mixing Spurs

Mixers are not ideal and they produce harmonics

So first mixer ( RF mixer) produces components at
So second mixer ( IF mixer) produces components at
Mixer Non Idealities
 Conversion Gain / Conversion Loss

Conversion Loss: An important figure of merit for a mixer is therefore the conversion loss, which is defined as the
ratio of available RF input power to the available IF output power, expressed in dB:

Conversion loss accounts for resistive losses in a mixer

as well as loss in the frequency conversion process from
RF to IF ports.
• Since the RF stages of receivers operate at much lower power levels than do transmitters,
minimum conversion loss is more critical for receivers because of the importance of minimizing
losses in the RF stages to maximize receiver noise figure.
• Practical diode mixers typically have conversion losses between 4 and 7 dB in the 1–10 GHz range.
• Transistor mixers have lower conversion loss, and they may even have conversion gain of a few
dB.
• One factor that strongly affects conversion loss is the LO power level; minimum conversion loss
often occurs for LO powers between 0 and 10 dBm. This power level is large enough that the
accurate characterization of mixer performance often requires nonlinear analysis.
• Conversion loss is the benchmark mixer metric because it correlates closely with other metrics like
isolation and 1 dB compression.
• wider bandwidth mixers tend to have higher conversion loss in part due to the difficulty in
maintaining circuit balance over the entire bandwidth.
• If the conversion loss of a unit is within a narrow specification, all other performance metrics will
also meet specifications. The converse is not necessarily true however; it is possible to have good
isolation and poor conversion loss
 Port to Port Isolation

• An important characteristic of a mixer is the isolation between the RF and LO ports. Ideally, the LO and RF
ports would be decoupled, but internal impedance mismatches and limitations of coupler performance
often result in some LO power being coupled out of the RF port.
• This is a potential problem for receivers that drive the RF port directly from the antenna because LO power
coupled through the mixer to the RF port will be radiated by the antenna. Because such signals can interfere
with other services or users, regulatory agencies often set stringent limits on the RF power radiated by
receivers.
• This problem can be largely alleviated by using a bandpass filter between the antenna and mixer, or by using
an RF amplifier ahead of the mixer. Isolation between the LO and RF ports is highly dependent on the type of
coupler used for diplexing these two inputs, but typical values range from 20 to 40 dB.
 Noise Figure
• Noise is generated in mixers by the diode or transistor elements, and by thermal sources due to resistive
losses.
• Noise figures of practical mixers range from 1 to 5 dB, with diode mixers generally achieving lower noise
figures than transistor mixers.
• The noise figure of a mixer depends on whether its input is a single-sideband signal or a double-sideband
signal.
• This is because the mixer will down-convert noise at both sideband frequencies (since these have the
same IF), but the power of a SSB signal is one-half that of a DSB signal (for the same amplitude)

The down-converted IF signal

where K is a constant accounting for the conversion loss for each sideband. The average power of the DSB
input signal o

The total output noise power is equal to the input noise plus Nadded, the noise power added by the mixer,
divided by the conversion loss
Double Side Band Noise Figure

Single Side Band

FSSB = 2FDSB

Since mixers involve nonlinearity, they will produce intermodulation products.

Typical values of IIP3 for mixers range from 15 to 30 dBm.
Noise Figure
 Types of Mixers

1. Single Ended Diode Mixers

2. Single Ended FET Mixer
3. Balanced Mixers
4. Image reject Mixers
5. Other types of Mixers
 Single Ended Diode Mixer
• Single ended mixer because it uses a single
diode element.
• The RF and LO inputs are combined in a
diplexer, which superimposes the two input
voltages to drive the diode.
• The duplexing function can be implemented
using a directional coupler or hybrid junction
to provide signal combining as well as
isolation between the two inputs.
• The diode may be biased with a DC bias
voltage, which must be decoupled from the
RF signal paths.
• This is done by using DC blocking capacitors
on either side of the diode, and an RF choke
between the diode and the bias voltage
source. • The first term is the DC bias current, which will be blocked
• The AC output of the diode is passed through from the IF output by the DC blocking capacitors.
a low-pass filter to provide the desired IF • The second term is a replication of the RF and LO input
output voltage. signals, which will be filtered out by the low-pass IF filter.
 Single Ended Diode Mixer

• This result is seen to contain several new signal components, only one of which produces the desired IF
difference product.
• The two DC terms again will be blocked by the blocking capacitors, and the 2 ω RF , 2 ω LO, and ω RF + ω
LO terms will be blocked by the low-pass filter.

where ω IF = ωRF − ωLO is the IF frequency.

• FET parameter, transconductance, gm, is the Single Ended FET Mixer
strongest that offer nonlinearity, can be used
for mixing when the FET is operated in a
common source configuration with a negative
gate bias.
• When used as an amplifier, the gate bias
voltage is chosen near zero, or slightly positive,
so the transconductance is near its maximum
value, and the transistor operates as a linear
device.
• When the gate bias is near the pinch-off
region, where the transconductance
approaches zero, a small positive variation of
gate voltage can cause a large change in
transconductance, leading to a nonlinear
response.
• Thus the LO voltage can be applied to the gate
of the FET to pump the transconductance to
switch the FET between high- and low-
transconductance states, thus providing the
desired mixing function.
 Single Ended FET Mixer

The desired down-conversion result is due solely to the n = 1 term of the Fourier series, so we only
need the g1 coefficient. Measurements typically give a value in the range of 10 mS for g1.

The quantities g1 , Rd , Ri, and Cgs are all parameters of the

FET. Practical mixer circuits generally use matching circuits to
transform the FET impedance to 50 for the RF, LO, and IF
ports.
A single-ended FET mixer is to be designed for a wireless local area network receiver operating at
2.4 GHz. The parameters of the FET are Rd = 300 , Ri = 10 , Cgs = 0 . 3 pF, and g1 = 10 mS. Calculate
the maximum possible conversion gain.
 Balanced Mixer

• Both mixers will reject

all even-order
intermodulation
products.

• RF input matching and RF-LO isolation can be improved through the use of a balanced mixer,
which consists of two single-ended mixers combined with a hybrid junction.

• A balanced mixer using a 90◦ hybrid junction will ideally lead to a perfect input match at the RF port over a
wide frequency range.
• The use of a 180◦hybrid will ideally lead to perfect RF-LO isolation over a wide frequency range.
 The total RF and LO
voltages applied to the
two diodes are v1(t)
and v2(t)

Small signal
approximation
of diode current

Using only
quadratic term
 Adding the two currents at the input to the low-pass filter

Note that the DC components of the diode currents cancel upon

combining.
After low-pass filtering, the IF output is

If we assume the diodes are matched and that each exhibits a voltage
reflection coefficient at the RF frequency, then the phasor expression
for the reflected RF voltages at the diodes will be

These reflected voltages appear at ports 2 and

3 of the hybrid, respectively, and combine to
form the outputs at the RF and LO ports

Thus we see that the phase characteristics of the 90◦ hybrid lead to perfect cancellation of reflections at the RF
port.
The isolation between the RF and LO ports, however, is dependent on the matching of the diodes, which may be
difficult to maintain over a reasonable frequency range.
Image Reject Mixer
Image Reject Mixer