A WIDEBAND CMOS CURRENT-MODE DOWN-CONVERSION MIXER FOR MULTI-STANDARD RECEIVERS

This paper presents a low voltage wideband down-conversion mixer using current-mode approach for multi-standard receivers. The proposed mixer uses a current mirror amplifier with an embedded passive switching core to achieve mixing function, which can combine the advantages of active and passive mixers simultaneously. The mixer is implemented using a 0.18 µm CMOS technology and covers frequency band from 0.5 GHz to 4.0 GHz. A comparison with conventional CMOS down-conversion mixer shows that this current-mode mixer has advantages of large conversion gain, low noise figure and high linearity. Over the entire bandwidth, the mixer features a measured power conversion gain of 8.9 ~ 9.6 dB, a double-sideband (DSB) noise figure of 6.9 ~ 9.3 dB and an input third-order intercept point (IIP3) of 2.0 ~ 5.8 dBm, while consuming 8 mA from a 1.2 V supply voltage. The mixer occupies the active area of 0.43 x 0.46 mm2 including testing pads.