A millimeterwave AllnAs-GaInAs HFET-based subharmonically pumped mixer

The feasibility of subharmonically pumped, millimeterwave resistive HFET-mixers based on a single FET configuration is investigated and reported for the first time. Theoretical and experimental results for a 50-60 GHz mixer utilising subharmonic pumping as a function of local oscillator power and gate bias voltage, Vgb, is presented. The conversion loss versus Vgb characteristic exhibits the same number of minima as the subharmonic number of the LO both theoretically and experimentally. By using the fifth harmonic of the LO-frequency, at an LO-power of 10 dBm, a conversion loss of 23 dB was obtained experimentally.