A wideband integrated Gilbert cell mixer with an inductor resonator using 0.5um GaAs enhancement-mode pHEMT technology

A fully integrated active Gilbert cell mixer with inductor resonator was proposed in this paper. The proposed circuit was designed at 12 GHz with bandwidth from 5 to 20 GHz and fabricated in a 0.5-μm pHEMT process. An extra inductor was added to enhance the conversion gain and improve the noise figure. The “current bleeding” technique was also inserted in the Gilbert cell mixer to boost the conversion gain, meanwhile, improving the noise level. The highest conversion gain of 11 dB can be achieved in the designed circuit under LO input power of 4.5 dBm. Both RF-IF and LO-IF isolations were better than 30dB. The third order intercept point input power, IIP3, achieved as high as 6 dBm. Total consumption is 59.6 mW. The total chip area is 1.15 ∗ 0.92 mm 2