A Novel 2.4GHz CMOS Up-Conversion Current-Mode Mixer

Abstract

In this paper, a low-power up-conversion current-mode mixer, designed in the chartered 0.18-μm RFCMOS technology, is proposed to realize the transmitter front-end in the frequency band of 2.4 GHz. The proposed mixer can convert a 10 MHz intermediate frequency (IF) signal to a 2.4 GHz RF signal, with a local oscillator power of 2 dBm at 2.39 GHz. A comparison with conventional voltage-mode up-conversion mixer shows that this mixer has advantages of low voltage, low power consumption and high performance. Simulation results demonstrate that at 2.4 GHz, the circuit provides 6.5 dB of conversion gain and the input-referred third-order intercept point (IIP3) of 15.3 dBm, while drawing only 5.7 mA from a 1.2V supply voltage. The chip area is only 0.7 mm x 0.8 mm.