Comparison of three different sub-harmonic mixers implemented in SiGe process technology for the 60GHz license free frequency band

In this paper three sub-harmonic mixers where designed for the 60GHz frequency band using Jazz SBC18hx process. The detailed design of 4th sub-harmonic mixer is presented which is based on the linear abstraction for mixers. A method to extract the ABCD parameters of the mixer from a general purpose harmonic balance simulation results is created. These parameters are used to properly match the mixer. The performance of 2nd sub-harmonic passive mixer with the same topology and that of an active 2nd sub-harmonic Gilbert based mixer are presented. The results of the three mixers are compared.