Design technique for MESFET mixers for maximum conversion gain

A design technique for MESFET mixers is described. This technique is based on a mixer analysis program (MIXAN) designed to obtain the value of conversion gain and evaluate the influence of the embedding impedances for any local oscillator power and DC bias, in order to optimized the mixer performance. The MIXAN program, which uses SPICE as a subroutine to determine large-signal current and voltage waveforms, is able to obtain the operating conditions for maximum conversion gain. The good agreement between experimental and simulation results for X-band drain and gate mixers proves the validity of the design technique.<
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