Signal transmission with improved counter intermodulation performance

An electronic circuit comprising:

• an input port configured to receive an in-phase (I) data signal and a quadrature (Q) data signal;
• a conversion circuit configured to convert the I data signal and the Q data signal to a plurality of differential signal pairs;
• a mixer circuit configured to mix the plurality of differential signal pairs with a plurality of pulse signals to obtain a pair of differential mixer output signals;
• and
• a variable gain amplifier (VGA) configured to generate an output signal based on the pair of differential mixer output signals,
• wherein the plurality of pulse signals have a same duty ratio that is greater than
• 1
• ⁢
• 0
• ⁢
• 0
• N
• ⁢
• %
• ,
• where N is a total number of the plurality of pulse signals,
• wherein a phase difference between two consecutive pulse signals equals
• 3
• ⁢
• 6
• ⁢
• 0
• N
• ∘
• ,
• wherein the mixer circuit comprises one of a four-phase mixer or a six-phase mixer,
• wherein, when the mixer circuit comprises the four-phase mixer, the mixer circuit is configured to mix the plurality of differential signal pairs with a plurality of pulse signals having the same duty ratio greater than 25%, and
• wherein, when the mixer circuit comprises the six-phase mixer, the mixer circuit is configured to mix the plurality of differential signal pairs with a plurality of pulse signals having the same duty ratio greater than 16.7%.