Mixer with series connected active devices
AssigneeHRL Laboratories, LLC
InventorsJongchan Kang, Ara K. Kurdoghlian
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A unit cell for a resistive mixer includes a plurality of active devices arranged in series, wherein each of said plurality of active devices having a different output conductance. A resistive mixer includes a plurality of active devices connected in series with one another to form a unit cell.
Claims24
A mixer, comprising:
- four cells wherein each cell has a drain terminal, a source terminal and a gate terminal;
- wherein the source terminals of the first and second cells are connected at a first RF input terminal;
- wherein the source terminals of the third and fourth cells are connected at a second RF input terminal;
- wherein the drain terminals of the first and third cells are connected at a first IF terminal;
- wherein the drain terminals of the second and fourth cells are connected at a second IF terminal;
- wherein the gate terminals of the first and fourth cells are connected at a first LO terminal;
- wherein the gate terminals of the second and third cells are connected at a second LO terminal;
- wherein each cell comprises first and second series connected devices;
- wherein a ratio of a gate width of the first series connected device to a gate width of the second series connected device in each cell is between one to one and one to four.
The mixer of claim 8, wherein half of the gates of the plurality of active devices receive a 180 degrees out of phase local oscillator signal.
A method of reducing a third harmonic of an RF signal in a mixer comprising a plurality of unit cells, the unit cells being connected in a ring with an RF input and LO input and having a IF output, the method comprising:
- providing at least a pair of active devices in each of said unit cells, each of said active devices having a pair of current carrying electrodes and at least one control electrode;
- connecting the at least a pair of active device in each of said unit cells so said current carrying electrodes are coupled in series with each other and also connected to current carrying terminals of an associated united cell;
- connecting the at least a pair of active device in each of said unit cells so said control electrodes are coupled in parallel with each other and also connected to a control terminal of the associated united cell;
- and
- adjusting sizes of at least one semiconductor element in each of the pair of active devices in each of said unit cells relative to other in each of said unit cells to reduce said third harmonic.
A mixer, having an intermediate frequency (IF) side and a radio frequency (RF) side, the mixer comprising:
- a plurality of unit cells each comprising a plurality of active devices of different sizes arranged in series to reduce or inhibit generation of a non-linear third harmonic by the mixer.
A method for producing a unit cell used in a mixer, the method comprising:
- providing a plurality of active devices of different sizes connected in series in said unit cell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.