A new RF CMOS mixer with a high performance in 0.18u technology

In this paper, a new highly linear radio-frequency CMOS mixer is presented. The new mixer is derived from the basic Gilbert multiplier. It achieves an outstanding linearity since the new topology does not contain any tail current branches. A CMOS transistor pair is instead applied to the four cross coupled commutating transistors. Simulations of the extracted layout results show a high linearity improvement over the basic Gilbert mixer, with IIP3 of 31 dBm in 0.8u and 20dBm in 0.18u. Simulations also shows 6dB improvement in the mixer's conversion gain in 0.18u over 0.8u, with 3.2mW power consumption. The new mixer's test chip layout and its extracted simulation characteristics in both technologies are presented.