Design of Integrated Mixer for 5G Radio Transceiver

The increased demand of high data rate, low latency and wider bandwidth is pushing the wireless communication towards higher frequencies. 3GPP (third generation partnership project) allocated NR (new radio) FR2 (frequency range 2) n257 (26.5 - 29.5 GHz) and n258 (24.25 - 27.5 GHz) bands for high-speed communication. It is challenging to achieve high linearity at higher frequencies with low supply voltage and smaller size devices. This thesis presents design, implementation and simulation results of integrated downconversion mixer for modular 5G radio transceiver. The first stage downconversion mixer, implemented in GF FDSOI 22 nm process will be used in super-heterodyne double downconversion transceiver, operates at 28 GHz input frequency and provides 6-7 GHz intermediate frequency (IF). The pre-layout and post-layout simulation results of double-balanced mixer topologies optimized for high linearity are compared in terms of conversion gain (CG), input third-order intercept point (IIP3), double sideband (DSB) noise figure (NF), LO-to-IF leakage,and dc power consumption. The mixer topologies, including Gilbert cell and variants of Gilbert cell with resistive and inductive degeneration, and mixer with transformer input, show trade-off between conversion gain, linearity, dc power consumption, and area. Under 0.8-V supply voltage, the transformer input mixer achieves highest IIP3 of +16.34 dBm while dc power consumption including LO buffer is 5.7 mW and NFdsb is 13.7 dB