MIC Image-Reject and -Enhancement Mixers for Radio-Link Applications

A class of broadband image-reject and enhancement mixers for radio-link applications has been developed. The mixers are constructed in micro-wave-integrated-circuit (MIC) form. Their design concept is explained and details of the actual implementation are presented. Typical performances for 3.8 to 4.2 GHz are 4.5 dB noise figure, 25 dB image suppression and ⩾ 25 dB LO-RF isolation. The mixers can be used as the first element in a receiver or combined with an RF preamplifier, but also as a single-side-band upconverter.