Sub 1-V 5-GHz-band up- and down-conversion mixer cores in 0.35-/spl mu/m CMOS

To lower the supply voltage and reduce the power dissipation of the RF front-end of wireless communication systems, a double-balanced square-law MOSFET mixer is proposed. It is applied to up- and down-conversion mixer cores. Implemented in a 0.35-/spl mu/m CMOS process, the up-conversion mixer core operates with a supply voltage of 0.5 V and a supply current of 0.8 mA in the 5-GHz band. The local leakage is suppressed below -40 dBc. The down-conversion mixer core drains 0.4 mA from a 1-V supply in the same band. The conversion gain is 6 dB and the 3rd-order input-referred intercept point (IIP3) is +5 dBm.