A High FoM Down Conversion Mixer with a Boosted Conversion Gain for IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.15.4 Standards

Abstract

This paper presents a CMOS mixer with excellent input matching and high conversion gain @ 2.4 GHz. Inductive source degeneration is used for RF port input matching. This mixer utilizes inductive shunt peaking for conversion gain boosting. Active loads having drain-gate AC resistive blocking devices are employed for further enhancement of IF output power. The proposed mixer is designed, simulated and implemented in TSMC 0.18 μm CMOS process. This mixer layout occupies an active area of 0.293 mm2. Its input matching network is tuned to 2.4 GHz. It achieves a conversion gain of 31.88 dB while driving a 3.43 mA from a 1.8V supply. It has a FoM of 13.321.