Double Balanced Parametric and Resistive Millimeter-Wave Mixers with more than 100 GHz RF-Bandwidth

In response to the growing demand for wideband monolithic integrated front-ends, this work investigates passive double balanced mixers in a 35-nm gate-length InGaAs high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT)-technology. Building on the gate’s Schottky contact and exploiting its abrupt C(V) characteristic, a practical design methodology for parametric mixers is outlined. It is experimentally validated by the design, fabrication, and performance characterization of a star and a ring mixer. A uniform conversion loss (CL) of 3 and 6 dB, respectively, with less than ±2 dB variation over the frequency range from 115 to 220 GHz is achieved. In order to provide a meaningful comparison to resistive mixers under the given technological constraints, two such circuits were also implemented. Within the same frequency range, they exhibit a CL of approximately 14 dB with similar variation. Remarkable is their outstanding linearity at low local oscillator (LO) drive, i.e. 0 dBm.