A 2.4 GHz Sub-mW Single-Balanced Self-Oscillating Mixer

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of self-oscillating mixer (SOM) configurations for low-power applications. A 2.4 GHz sub-mW SOM, implemented in $0.13~\mu \text{m}$ CMOS technology, is also presented. It consists of a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) stacked on a single-balanced active mixer. The simulations result in only $500~\mu \text{W}$ of power consumption from 1.2V supply voltage, with a conversion gain of 18.2 dB @ 5 MHz and an IIP3 of -4 dBm, the SOM exhibits a single sideband noise figure of 14 dB and a phase noise of -113.5 dBc/Hz @ 1MHz.