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RF Mixer (Frequency Converter) : Dept. of Telecomm. Eng. Faculty of EEE CSD2020 DHT, Hcmut

The document discusses RF mixers, which are nonlinear three-port circuits that accept two input signals at different frequencies and produce a signal at the sum or difference of the input frequencies. Common nonlinear devices used in mixers include pn junction diodes and field-effect transistors. Key figures of merit for mixers are discussed, including conversion loss, noise figure, isolation, compression, and dynamic range. Single-ended mixers are described as having a single input port for both the RF signal and local oscillator.

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33 views

RF Mixer (Frequency Converter) : Dept. of Telecomm. Eng. Faculty of EEE CSD2020 DHT, Hcmut

The document discusses RF mixers, which are nonlinear three-port circuits that accept two input signals at different frequencies and produce a signal at the sum or difference of the input frequencies. Common nonlinear devices used in mixers include pn junction diodes and field-effect transistors. Key figures of merit for mixers are discussed, including conversion loss, noise figure, isolation, compression, and dynamic range. Single-ended mixers are described as having a single input port for both the RF signal and local oscillator.

Uploaded by

Nam Le
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chapter 4:

RF Mixer
(Frequency Converter)

Dept. of Telecomm. Eng. CSD2020


Faculty of EEE 1 DHT, HCMUT
Nonlinear Device Characteristics (1)
 A typical mixer is a three-port circuit that accepts two signals at two
different frequencies and produces at the third port a signal that is the sum
or difference of the two input frequencies.

Production of a new frequency or frequencies requires a nonlinear device.


The two most common semiconductor nonlinear characteristics are:
 the form as found in pn junction diodes or BJTs.
 the form as found in FETs.

Dept. of Telecomm. Eng. CSD2020


Faculty of EEE 2 DHT, HCMUT
Nonlinear Device Characteristics (2)
 Consider a pn junction nonlinearity that is excited by two signals (plus a
DC term):

The device current is then of the form:

where the thermal voltage, VT, is defined as kT/q, k is Boltzmann’s


constant, T is the absolute temperature, and q is the magnitude of the
electronic charge.

Dept. of Telecomm. Eng. CSD2020


Faculty of EEE 3 DHT, HCMUT
Nonlinear Device Characteristics (3)
Using Bessel function:

then

Dept. of Telecomm. Eng. CSD2020


Faculty of EEE 4 DHT, HCMUT
Nonlinear Device Characteristics (4)
The basic result is a set of frequencies nωp + mω1 where n and m can take on
any integer. The usual desired output for a receiver is the intermediate
frequency (IF), ω0. The frequencies of primary interest are given the
following names:

Dept. of Telecomm. Eng. CSD2020


Faculty of EEE 5 DHT, HCMUT
Nonlinear Device Characteristics (5)
 In the FET type of nonlinearity, when the mixer is excited by

the output current is

Dept. of Telecomm. Eng. CSD2020


Faculty of EEE 6 DHT, HCMUT
Figures of Merit for Mixers (1)
The quality of a mixer depends on a number of different mixer parameters
which of course must fit the application under consideration:

 The first of these is conversion loss, L. This is the ratio of the delivered
output power to the input available power:

Clearly, the conversion loss is dependent on the load of the input RF circuit as
well as the output impedance of the mixer at the IF port. The conversion loss
for a typical diode mixer is between 6 and 7 dB.

 The noise figure is a measure of the noise added by the mixer itself to the
RF input signal as it gets converted to the output IF.

Dept. of Telecomm. Eng. CSD2020


Faculty of EEE 7 DHT, HCMUT
Figures of Merit for Mixers (2)
 The isolation is the amount of local oscillator power that leaks into
either the IF or the RF ports. For double-balanced mixers this value
typically lies in the 15 to 20 dB range.

 The conversion compression is the RF input power, above which the


RF input in terms of the IF output deviates from linearity by a given
amount. For example, the 1-dB compression point occurs when the
conversion loss increases by 1 dB above the conversion loss in the
low-power linear range. A typical value of 1.0 dB compression occurs
when the RF power is +7 dBm and the LO is +13 dBm.

 The LO drive power is the required LO power level needed to make


the mixer operate in optimum. For a double-balanced mixer, this is
typically +6 dBm to +20 dBm.

Dept. of Telecomm. Eng. CSD2020


Faculty of EEE 8 DHT, HCMUT
Figures of Merit for Mixers (3)
 The dynamic range is the maximum RF input power range for the
mixer. The maximum amplitude is limited by the conversion
compression, and the minimum amplitude is limited by the noise figure.

The input intercept point is the RF input power at which the output
power levels of the undesired intermodulation products (e.g. IM3) and
the desired IF output would be equal. It conducts to the definition of
spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) (See Chapter 1)

Dept. of Telecomm. Eng. CSD2020


Faculty of EEE 9 DHT, HCMUT
Single-Ended Mixers
The single-ended mixer in below figure shows that the RF input signal and
the local oscillator signal enter the mixer at the same point. Some degree of
isolation between the two is achieved by using a directional coupler in which
the RF signal enters the direct port and the local oscillator enters through the
coupled port.

The amplitude of the local oscillator is large enough to turn the diode on and
off during each cycle. Indeed, the LO power is so large as to cause clipping
of the LO voltage, thereby approximating a square wave. The small RF
signal is then presented with alternately a short or open circuit at the LO rate.

Dept. of Telecomm. Eng. CSD2020


Faculty of EEE 10 DHT, HCMUT

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