A W-band monolithic, singly balanced resistive mixer with low conversion loss

We report the design, measured and simulated performance of a novel W-band monolithic, singly balanced resistive FET mixer utilizing 0.1-μm pseudomorphic AlGaAs/InGaAs on GaAs HEMT technology. At an LO drive of +8 dBm, this mixer has exhibited a minimum measured conversion loss of 12.8 dB, nearly a 10 dB improvement over previously reported data in this frequency range. Furthermore, the mixer figure of merit, defined as P/sub 1-dB,in/-P/sub LO/, is at least +2 dBm, which is nominally 6 dBm better than that of comparable diode mixers at W-band. These results indicate the excellent potential of this mixer for integration with other circuit components in fully monolithic subsystems.