Low-power front-end and local oscillator for millimeter-wave receivers

Abstract

This paper presents the design of a 60-GHz millimeter wave (mm-wave) receiver RF front-end (LNA and mixer) and the local oscillator in CMOS65nm and 1.2-V supply. The system-level design and specifications of all blocks are discussed. Two-stage LNA is used to provide a total gain of 11dB with 6-dB NF. The power consumption for the LNA is 10mW and occupies an area of 0.08mm2. Fully differential Gilbert mixer is used with current bleeding technique to increase the gain. The conversion gain is more than 4dB at 10-MHz intermediate frequency. The area of the mixer is 0.0054mm2 and the power dissipation is 5mW. A differential Clapp oscillator is used for the push-push oscillator topology, which is suitable for mm-wave generation. The oscillator is single-ended and an on-chip balun is used to convert the output to differential. The receiver achieves 16-dB conversion gain and consumes 24mW.