A Single Transistor-Level Direct-Conversion Mixer for Low-Voltage Low-Power Multi-band Radios

A CMOS direct-conversion mixer with a single transistor-level topology is proposed in this paper. Since the single transistor-level topology needs smaller supply voltage than the conventional Gilbert-cell topology, the proposed mixer structure is suitable for a low power and highly integrated RF system-on-a-chip (SoC). The proposed direct-conversion mixer is designed for the multi-band ultra-wideband (UWB) system covering from 3 to 7 GHz. The conversion gain and input P1dB of the mixer are about 3 dB and -10 dBm, respectively, with multi-band RF signals. The mixer consumes 4.3 mA under a 1.8 V supply voltage.