Quarter duty cycle pulse generator for interleaved switching mixer

A method of performing IQ modulation by interleaving in-phase and quadrature signals, comprising:

• receiving in-phase and quadrature input signals;
• frequency dividing a first VCO reference signal and a second complementary VCO reference signal to generate in-phase and quadrature clocking signals separated in phase from each other by substantially ninety degrees;
• and
• selectively passing pulses from the first VCO reference signal and the second complementary VCO reference signal through a plurality of transmission gates configured in a matched switching topology under control of the in-phase and quadrature clocking signals, thereby generating matched differential interleaved local oscillator signals;
• and
• applying the matched differential interleaved local oscillator signals to a plurality of switches in a switching mixer for interleaving the in-phase and quadrature input signals over a plurality of phases of a carrier period under control of the matched differential interleaved local oscillator signals to produce a differential signal.

A method for generating matched differential interleaved local oscillator clock signals, comprising:

• generating a first VCO reference signal and a second complementary VCO reference signal;
• generating from the first VCO reference signal and the second complementary VCO reference signal a first in-phase clocking signal with half the frequency of the first VCO reference signal, a second in-phase clocking signal separated in phase from the first in-phase clocking signal by substantially one hundred and eighty degrees, a first quadrature clocking signal separated in phase from the first in-phase clocking signal by substantially ninety degrees, and a second quadrature clocking signal separated in phase from the first quadrature clocking signal by substantially one hundred and eighty degrees;
• and
• selectively passing pulses from the first VCO reference signal and the second complementary VCO reference signal through a plurality of transmission gates configured in a matched switching topology under control of the first in-phase clocking signal, second in-phase clocking signal, first quadrature clocking signal, and second quadrature clocking signal, thereby generating matched differential interleaved local oscillator signals comprising a first set of local oscillator pulse signals and a second set of complementary local oscillator pulse signals such that there is substantially no propagation delay between the first set of local oscillator pulse signals and the second set of complementary local oscillator pulse signals.