A GaAs HBT Low Power 24 GHz Downconverter with On-Chip Local-Oscillator

In this paper, the paper presents a low-power mixer with integrated local oscillator intended for use in a 24 GHz receiver front-end. The chip is realized using HBT GaAs technology. The voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) provides a tuning range of 18% at a mean frequency of 21 GHz, with a low DC consumption of 21 mW. DC consumption of the mixer part is about 17 mW from a 3 V supply, with a mean gain of 14 dB and a sensitivity of -70 dBm. The MMIC demonstrates interesting potential for low-power RF terminals in the 24 GHz range