Circulator Integrated in Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramics Technology

The front-end circuitry of transceiver modules is slowly being updated from GaAs-based MMICs to Gallium-Nitride. Especially GaN power amplifiers and TR switches, but also low-noise amplifiers, offer significant performance improvement over GaAs components. Therefore it is interesting to also explore the possible advantages of a GaN mixer to complete a fully GaN-based front-end. In this paper the design-experiment and measurement results of a double-balanced image-rejectmixer MMIC in 0.25 μm AlGaN/GaN technology are presented. This design features an integrated LO amplifier and active IF balun. The measured conversion loss is less than 8 dB from 6 to 12 GHz, at 0 dBm LO power. © 2014 European Microwave Association.