A D-band down-conversion gilbert mixer based on electromagnetic coupling gain-boosted topology in 130 nm SiGe BiCMOS

This paper presents a D-band down-conversion Gilbert mixer based on electromagnetic coupling topology in 130 nm SiGe BiCMOS process. To improve the conversion gain (CG) and minimize the parasitic of transistors in the millimeter wave frequency band, an electromagnetic coupling gain-boosted topology is innovatively proposed between the switch stage and the transconductance stage. Moreover, a compact marchand balun-based matching network is employed at the RF and LO input terminals to achieve compact impedance matching cell and simultaneous single-end to differential signal cell. Finally, several optimization strategies for the gilbert mixer core's layout architecture are proposed, which is very helpful for improving isolation and conversion gain (CG). The proposed down-conversion mixer demonstrated a measured RF 1-dB bandwidth varying from 106 to 131 GHz with an LO power of 2 dBm, and the peak conversion gain (CG) of - 3.2 dB at 120 GHz, the simulation result of noise figure of the single sideband, NFssb, is 22.47 dB. Besides, the simulated LO-to-RF isolation is more than 43 dB, and the mixer's operating current is 13 mA@2.5 V, while occupying a total die area of 990 x 780 mu m2.