A novel common-gate mixer for wireless applications

In this paper, a balanced 27 GHz common-gate downconvert mixer is presented. The common-gate configuration allows 0.8 /spl mu/m MESFETs to be used at frequencies in excess of those practical for the common-source configuration. Measurements indicate a conversion loss of 10.7 dB at an input RF frequency of 27 GHz and local-oscillator power of 7.4 dBm, with a third-order intercept at -5.3-dBm output power. This performance is in the range of reported mixers at this frequency, even though most use higher tolerance and more expensive processes.