Statistical performance of IIP2 in active and passive mixers

Abstract

In this work, we study two down conversion mixers, a passive ring mixer and an active Gilbert mixer from the point of view of even order distortion. First, the effect of mismatch on the IIP2 mean value and deviation of the mixer is studied by Monte Carlo simulations. The simulated results are compared to demands of the WCDMA standard, and the need for second order distortion compensation techniques is discussed. After this, we study how phase and amplitude errors of LO-signals affect the IM2 distortion of the mixer. The simulation results show that without an extra IIP2 compensation technique the mixers cannot meet the linearity requirements demanded by the system.