Monolithic RF active mixer design

An overview of monolithic radio-frequency (RF) active mixer design is presented. The paper is divided into two parts. The first part discusses the performance parameters that are relevant to the design of downconversion mixers, and how they affect the system performance. The second part presents three common kinds of mixer topologies, namely, unbalanced, single-balanced, and double-balanced designs. This paper concentrates on active mixers only, The advantages and disadvantages, as well as the design and optimization techniques for the three kinds of mixers, are discussed.