RTu1B-3 A 9-31GHz 65nm CMOS Down-Converter with >4dBm OOB B1dB

This paper presents a frequency tunable, high dynamic range 65nm bulk CMOS downconverter operating from 9-31GHz. The design implements a topology variation of a 4 phase passive mixer which allows for sinusoidal LO drive and achieves a minimum NF of 12.5dB and out of band (OOB) blocker compression (B1dB) of -6dBm for a B1dB-NF FoM of -18.5 dB while consuming only 73mW. Should higher performance be required, a B1dB of over 4 dBm, and OOB IIP3 of 21 dBm, can be achieved using 162mW of power while maintaining noise and bandwidth performance, for a FoM of -8.5dB. To the author's knowledge this is the highest such FoM reported for a CMOS receiver in this frequency range.