Designing Single Ended UHF BJT Mixer

Designing A Single Ended UHF BJT Mixer Using the ADS Software
Objectives:
• A simple UHF Mixer operating at 430.0 MHz is designed. The RF signal at 430.0
MHz is down converted into IF frequency of 20.0 MHz.
• The mixer is targeted to have no attenuation (conversion gain of 0dB) and an
operating noise figure of less than 10dB.
• The design steps are divided into 5 parts. These are the DC biasing of the mixer
circuit, S-parameters measurement for RF and IF, input matching, output matching
and final design verification.

Background:
• The transistor chosen for the job is BFR92A which comes in SOT-23 package. The
maximum IC sustainable by the transistor is 30.0mA, with transition frequency fT =
5GHz.
• Since this is a large signal nonlinear circuit, substantial harmonics will be generated,
therefore the chosen simulation method is the Harmonic Balance Method.
• The transistor is biased in emitter degenerated common-emitter configuration.
• The mixer is driven by a RF source with 50Ohms source resistance, and LO (local
oscillator) source with 50Ohms source resistance and sustaining a load resistance of
50Ohms. The block diagram of the mixer is shown in Figure 1.

Power supply and

decoupling

Core mixer
Input Output
RF Source circuit
Matching Matching
Network Network Load

Local Oscillator
(LO)

Figure 1 – Block diagram of the mixer circuit.

Step 1: DC biasing and S-parameters measurement

The raw circuit of the mixer is shown in Figure 2. LO signal is pumped into the emitter
of Q1 while RF signal is imposed on the base of Q1. This configuration improves
isolation between the LO, IF and RF signals. You will notice that each signal is
connected to different pin of the transistor. The LO signal is quite large, the BE junction

F.Kung 1 Sep 2001

Designing Single Ended UHF BJT Mixer

of Q1 serves to attenuate the LO power (See book by Razavi [1] or Lee [3]) This will
minimize radiation of the LO signal through the receive antenna. To further improve
isolation, the IF and RF port should have the following characteristics:
• At IF port, RF signal should be shunted, only allowing low frequency signal (IF) to
pass.
• At RF port, IF signal should be shunted, only allowing high frequency signal (RF) to
pass.
These characteristics can be simulated be inserting artificial elements at both ports. The
impedance of the element is a function of frequency. In ADS, this is implemented using
the equation based linear elements, which can be accessed from the “Eqn Based-Linear”
linear component palette.

For instance for ZIP1 at RF port, the impedance is equal to 1Ohm when signal frequency
is less than 100MHz and 1000Ohm at other frequencies. These artificial elements can be
realized using lumped elements after incorporating the matching networks at RF and IF
port. The subsequent steps will illustrate the procedure.

DC S-PARAMETERS SWEEP PLAN

DC S_Param SweepPlan
V_DC SwpPlan1
R DC1 SP1
SRC1
R2 SweepPlan="SwpPlan1" Pt=20.0MHz
Vdc=3.0 V
R=1 kOhm Var
Eqn
VAR Pt=410.0MHz
VAR1 Pt=430.0MHz
freq_LO=410 Mhz UseSweepPlan=
freq_RF=430 Mhz SweepPlan=
RF_pow=-20 NOTE:
ZIP1 By convention for a successful analysis of mixer:
1. Set the RF input to PORT 1, IF output to PORT 2 and
Low impedance at IF LO input to PORT 3 (by editing the NUM property).
2. Set the signal with largest amplitude to Freq[1] to
and high impedance ensure convergence of the HB method.

at RF.
R C
Rb Cc3
R=47 kOhm Z1P_Eqn
L Z1P2 C=330.0 pF
Term
Lb Z[1,1]=Z_IF
L=220.0 nH Term2
R= Num=2
Z=50 Ohm

pb_phl_BFR92A_19921214
Q1
C
Cc1
C=330.0 pF Z1P_Eqn
Term Z1P1
Term1 R C
Z[1,1]=Z_RF Re Z_RF is to simulate short at IF and high impedance at RF.
Num=1 Cc2 R
R=330 Ohm Z_IF is to simulate high impedance at IF and short at RF.
Z=50 Ohm C=10.0 pF RLO A realistic value for short would be 1-5 Ohms while a realistic
R=50 Ohm value for high impedance would be 500-2000 Ohms.
Var
Eqn VAR
VAR2
Z_RF=if freq < 100MHz then 1 else 1000 endif
Z_IF=if freq < 100MHz then 1000 else 1endif

Figure 2 – The schematic of the raw mixer with no matching.

DC simulation is performed on the schematic and the transistor voltage and current is as
follows:
VC VE VB IC
1.82V 0.39V 1.14V 1.17mA

F.Kung 2 Sep 2001

Designing Single Ended UHF BJT Mixer

S-parameter Simulation
For mixer operation, we are only interested with S-parameters at 3 frequencies (IF =
20MHz, LO = 410 MHz and RF = 430 MHz), thus a sweep plan is used instead of
measuring the S-parameters at all frequencies. The Sweep Plan window can be accessed
from S-Parameters control as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3 – Sweep Plan setting.

The result of S-parameters simulation is shown below:

freq S(1,1) Z(1,1)

20.00MHz 0.968 / -128.490 1.000 - j24.115
410.0MHz 0.876 / -22.603 77.551 - j224.546
430.0MHz 0.874 / -23.693 72.572 - j215.009 The input impedance at
IF and RF ports.
Assuming linear
freq S(2,2) Z(2,2)
20.00MHz 0.817 / -1.036 493.913 - j44.025 operation.
410.0MHz 0.961 / -177.300 0.999 - j1.178
430.0MHz 0.961 / -177.425 0.999 - j1.123

Table 1 – S-parameters for raw mixer circuit.

F.Kung 3 Sep 2001

Designing Single Ended UHF BJT Mixer

Step 2: Harmonic Balance Simulation of Raw Mixer Circuit

In order to illustrate the effect of having proper impedance matching circuits at both RF
and IF ports, we perform a quick analysis of the raw mixer circuit. The schematic is
shown in Figure 4. L1 and C1 are arbitrarily added with the purpose of filtering out RF
signal from the IF port. Current probes are added as measuring power requires both
voltage and current information. If performing Harmonic Balance simulation for a circuit
with multi-tone sources, some precautions have to be taken to ensure convergence and
sufficient accuracy.
• The LO source, being larger in magnitude should be assigned to frequency [1] and
given a higher order (more harmonics are considered).
• The MaxOrder variable should follows the order of LO.

DC HARMONIC BALANCE

DC HarmonicBalance
V_DC
SRC1 R DC1 HB1
R2 MaxOrder=7
Vdc=3.0 V
R=1 kOhm Var
Eqn VAR Freq[1]=freq_LO
VAR1 Freq[2]=freq_RF
freq_LO=410 Mhz Order[1]=7
freq_RF=430 Mhz Order[2]=5
RF_pow=-20 NOTE:
This source will By convention for a successful analysis of mixer:
1. Set the RF input to PORT 1, IF output to PORT 2 and
LO input to PORT 3 (by editing the NUM property).
supply –20dBm 2. Set the signal with largest amplitude to Freq[1] to
power to a matched ensure convergence of the HB method.

load, in this case I_Probe

R L
C
50Ω. Rb L1
Cc3
ILoad
R=47 kOhm L=100.0 nH C
C=100.0 pF
L R= C1
Lb C=47.0 pF
L=220.0 nH
R=
R
RL
pb_phl_BFR92A_19921214 R=50 Ohm
I_Probe Q1
C
ISource
Cc1
C=100.0 pF
P_1Tone R
C
Prf Re P_1Tone
Num=1 R=330 Ohm
Cc2 Built-in
C=10.0 pF PLO
Z=50 Ohm Num=2 function to
P=polar(dbmtow(RF_pow),0) Z=50 Ohm
Freq=freq_RF P=polar(dbmtow(0),0)
convert dBm to
Freq=freq_LO Watt

Figure 4 – Harmonic Balance simulation of raw mixer circuit.

Conversion Gain of Mixer

The conversion gain GC is defined as:

GC = PowerIF/PowerRF or GC = 10log10(PowerIF/PowerRF)

For this raw mixer schematic, it is (Refer to Appendix 2 for the data display)
GC = -18.866dB for RF_pow = -20dBm.

F.Kung 4 Sep 2001

Designing Single Ended UHF BJT Mixer

Step 3: Performing Matching at RF and IF Ports

The input impedance at RF port is Zrf = 72.572 – j215.009Ω (From Table 1). We would
like to transform this to 50Ω to match to the RF source impedance. The schematic to
achieve this is shown in Figure 5.

S-PARAMETERS

S_Param
SP1
Start=0.430 GHz
Stop=0.430 GHz Var
Eqn
VAR
Step=1.0 MHz VAR1
Z_in=72.572-j*215.009

L
Lm1 DC_Block Z1P_Eqn
L=68 nH DC_Block1 Z1P1
Term C
R= Z[1,1]=Z_in
Term1 Cm1
Num=1 C=0.335 pF
Z=50 Ohm

We would like to tranform This is the input impedance at

the impedance Z_in into RF frequency, from the stand-point
50 Ohm, from the point of of RF source.
view of the RF source after
the L network.

Figure 5 – Matching network design for RF port.

The input impedance at IF port is Zif = 493.913 – j44.025Ω (From Table 1). We would
like to transform this to 50Ω to match to the IF load impedance. The schematic to
achieve this is shown in Figure 6.

S-PARAMETERS

S_Param
SP1
Start=20 MHz
Stop=20 MHz
Step=1.0 MHz

L
DC_Block Lm2
Term DC_Block1 L=1203 nH
Term1 C R=
Num=1 R
Cm2
Z=50 Ohm RL
C=47 pF
R=50 Ohm

We would like to tranform

the load impedance into
conjugate of Z_if, from the
point of view of the mixer IF
output. This is the load impedance at
Z_if = 493.913 - j*44.025 IF frequency, from the stand-point
of the mixer IF output

Figure 6 – Matching network design for IF port.

F.Kung 5 Sep 2001

Designing Single Ended UHF BJT Mixer

Optimizing the IF Matching Network to Filter Out High Frequency Signal

The matching networks from Figure 6 is good enough for the IF port. However it is still
not sufficient for suppressing high frequency signals (note that the configuration of the
network is low pass). Cm2 = 47pF at 410MHz is only 8.26Ω. We would like to increase
Cm2 further to reduce this impedance (recall that the artificial device ZIP2 at RF is only
1Ω). This can be achieved by using a π network, with more degree of freedom we can
choose Cm2 to suit our purpose. The completed circuit is shown in Figure 7. Now at
410MHz, |XCm2| = 4.00Ω. This should be sufficient for bypassing RF signal, as the load
is 50Ω, so this impedance is 10 times smaller than load impedance.

S-PARAMETERS

S_Param
SP1
Start=20 MHz
Stop=20 MHz
Step=1.0 MHz

L
DC_Block Lm2
Term DC_Block1 L=800 nH
Term1 C C
R=
Num=1 Cm2 Cm3 R
Z=50 Ohm C=97 pF C=270.5 pF RL
R=50 Ohm

We would like to tranform

the load impedance into
conjugate of Z_if, from the
point of view of the mixer IF
output. This is the load impedance at
Z_if = 493.913 - j*44.025 IF frequency, from the stand-point
of the mixer IF output

Figure 7 – Matching network design for IF port using π network.

NOTE
Note that in carrying out the impedance matching procedure, we are assuming the
transistor to be operating in a quasi-linear mode. It is nonlinear so as to produce the
mixing effect, yet the linearity is small enough so that the usual linear procedure and
concept of impedance can be applied. Usually this is a valid assumption.

F.Kung 6 Sep 2001

Designing Single Ended UHF BJT Mixer

Step 4: Complete Circuit Simulation and SSB Noise Analysis

After including the matching networks, the raw mixer circuit becomes as shown in Figure
8. At RF port, Lb together with Cbyp1 shunts the low frequency IF signal (at 20Mhz,
220nH inductance is considered small, only 27Ω). While at IF port, Cm2 serves to shunt
the RF signal.

DC HARMONIC BALANCE Var

Eqn VAR
DC VAR1
HarmonicBalance
DC1 freq_LO=410 Mhz
HB1 freq_RF=430 Mhz
MaxOrder=7
RF_pow=-20
Freq[1]=freq_LO
Freq[2]=freq_RF V_DC C
SRC1 R Cdec NOTE:
Order[1]=7
Vdc=3.0 V R2 C=1000.0 pF By convention for a successful analysis of mixer:
Order[2]=5 R=1000 Ohm 1. Set the RF input to PORT 1, IF output to PORT 2 and
NLNoiseMode=yes LO input to PORT 3 (by editing the NUM property).
FreqForNoise=freq_RF-freq_LO 2. Set the signal with largest amplitude to Freq[1] to
NoiseInputPort=1 ensure convergence of the HB method.
NoiseOutputPort=2
Other=OutVar="RF_pow"
IF power
OPTIONS

Options
Options1 I_Probe
R L ILoad
Temp=23.85 C C
Rb Lm3
TopologyCheck=yes Cbyp1 Cc3
R=47 kOhm L=800.0 nH
V_RelTol=1e-6 C=1000.0 pF C=330.0 pF C
L Cm2 R= C T erm
I_RelT ol=1e-6
Lb Cm3 T erm3
GiveAllWarnings=yes
MaxWarnings=10
L=220.0 nH RF power C=97.0 pF
C=270.5 pF Num=2
R= Z=50 Ohm

pb_phl_BFR92A_19921214
I_Probe Q1
ISource L C
Lm1
Cc1
L=68.0 nH Output matching network
C=330.0 pF
P_1Tone R= C
Prf Cm1 R C
Num=1 C=0.33 pF Re Cc2 P_1T one
R=330 Ohm PLO
Z=50 Ohm C=15.0 pF
P=polar(dbmtow(RF_pow),0) Num=3
Freq=freq_RF Z=50 Ohm
P=polar(dbmtow(0),0)
Freq=freq_LO

Input matching network

Figure 8 – Complete mixer circuit.

We now set up the Harmonic Balance Simulation control. This time in addition to the
usual harmonic balance analysis, the nonlinear noise analysis is also activated. The
Option control is to set the operating temperature. The nonlinear noise window can be
accessed via the Harmonic Balance control as shown in Figure 9. The parameters for the
Noise[1] tab is as follows:
• Sweep Type : Point. We are analyzing spot noise here.
• Input frequency = RF frequency.
• Frequency: This is the frequency where the noise at IF port is measured. It is equal to
IF frequency or (RF frequency) – (LO frequency).

The Noise[2] and NoiseCons tabs are not used. When noise simulation is enabled, the
software will calculate the noise figure (NF) and equivalent noise temperature (TE) at
various ports of the circuit. These values will be included in the dataset after the
Harmonic Balance simulation is completed.

F.Kung 7 Sep 2001

Designing Single Ended UHF BJT Mixer

To compute ‘spot’ noise.

The frequency where the noise will be

input to the circuit. In this case it is
the RF frequency for down-converter,
i.e. Noise_freq + LO_freq = RF_freq

This is the port where wide-band

noise is input (RF port).

This is the port where noise power is

retrieved (IF port).

Enable nonlinear noise simulation

Figure 9 – Setting up nonlinear noise analysis through Noise[1] tab.

NOTE ON NOISE SIMULATION

1. Small-signal noise is used for circuits like amplifier. In this case the amplifier circuit
will be linearized at the d.c. bias point. Equivalent noise source will be impose on
elements such as PN junctions and resistors. System noise and noise figure are then
computed, either at one frequency (spot noise) or a band of frequency (wideband
noise).
2. Nonlinear noise is used for large signal circuits like power amplifier and mixer. It is
used with Harmonic Balance simulation where the noise must be computed at the
fundamental frequency, but also at the harmonics as well. Moreover the noise
voltage and current must be computed at various operating points of the steady
voltage and current since the circuit under analysis is a large signal circuit. Thus
nonlinear noise analysis requires much more computation power and memory than
just pure Harmonic Balance analysis.

F.Kung 8 Sep 2001

Designing Single Ended UHF BJT Mixer

3. Oscillation noise is used for computation of phase noise of oscillator. Again the noise
voltage and current need to be computed at various operating points under steady
state condition.
4. There are 2 methods for noise simulation, using the Noise[1] and Noise[2] tabs, and
using the NoiseCons tab. NoiseCons tab is used for several noise simulation, this
eliminates the need to change the values on the Noise[x] tab. It can be used for noise
sweeping calculation. Please refer to online help of ADS for more information.

Result
Upon running the simulation and using the data display as in Appendix to show the signal
spectrum, the conversion gain (for RF input power at –20dBm) is calculated as:
GC = -0592

This is a substantial improvement over the raw mixer circuit in Step 2, where the
conversion gain is only –18.866dB or 0.013. The voltage and current magnitude
spectrum is depicted in Figure 10. From the figure it is proven that output at IF port
consists mainly of a 20MHz component, the RF components are highly suppressed.
Furthermore the nonlinear noise analysis shows that the noise figure of the mixer is
roughly:
NFdB = 8.984 dB

Which is an acceptable value for single transistor mixer.

F.Kung 9 Sep 2001

Designing Single Ended UHF BJT Mixer

0.0006

0.0005

0.0004
ILoad.i

0.0003

0.0002

0.0001

m3
0.0000
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0

f req, GHz

m1 m2
freq=2.000E7Hz f req=4.700E8Hz
Vout=0.030 / -124.846 Vout=2.016E-9 / 168.315
m1
0.030

0.025

0.020
Vout

0.015

0.010

0.005

m2
0.000
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0

freq, GHz

Figure 10 – Magnitude of output voltage and current spectrum.

40

20
Vout_t, mV
Iout_t, mA

-20

-40
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

time, nsec

Figure 11A – Time domain steady state output voltage and current.

F.Kung 10 Sep 2001

Designing Single Ended UHF BJT Mixer

250

200

150

100

50
Vin_t, mV
Iin_t, mA

-50

-100

-150

-200

-250
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

time, nsec

Figure 11B – Time domain steady state input voltage and current.

Step 5: Gain Compression Test

By modifying the Harmonic Balance Simulation control, we could change the schematic
of Figure 8 into a gain compression test. This is done by sweeping the RF power level as
shown in Figure 12.

HARMONIC BALANCE

HarmonicBalance
HB1
MaxOrder=7
Freq[1]=freq_LO
Freq[2]=freq_RF
Order[1]=7
Order[2]=5
NLNoiseMode=
FreqForNoise=freq_RF-freq_LO
NoiseInputPort=1
NoiseOutputPort=2
SweepVar="RF_pow"
Start=-30
Stop=10
Lin=10
Other=

Figure 12 – Changing the HB Simulation control for gain compression test.

F.Kung 11 Sep 2001

Designing Single Ended UHF BJT Mixer

The result of gain compression test is shown in Figure 13. It is seen that 1dB gain
compression occurs roughly at RF input power level of –5dBm.

10

0
Pif_dbm

-10
Pif_ext

-20

-30

-40
-30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10

RF_pow

Figure 13 – Gain Compression test.

References
• B. Razavi, “RF Microelectronics”, Prentice Hall, 1998.
• R. Ludwig, P. Bretchko, “RF circuit design – theory and application”, Prentice Hall,
2000.
• T.H. Lee, “The design of CMOS radio-frequency integrated circuits”, Cambridge
University Press, 1998.

F.Kung 12 Sep 2001

 Designing Single Ended UHF BJT Mixer

Appendix 1 – Photograph of the constructed UHF mixer based on schematic of

Figure 8

Local Oscillator
Input

1.57mm thick FR4 printed SMA to PCB

circuit board adapter

IF Output RF Input

BNC to PCB
adapter

To 3.0-3.3V D.C.
Source

Appendix 2 – Agilent ADS Data Display Used (ADS 2000)

Data Display for Conversion Gain and Nonlinear Noise Analysis:

F.Kung 13 Sep 2001

Designing Single Ended UHF BJT Mixer

30 600

25 500

20 400

ILoad.i, uA
Vout, mV

15 300

10 200

100
5

0
0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
freq, GHz
freq, GHz
freq Vout ILoad.i Mix(1) Mix(2) Use the mix( ) function to extract a certain frequency component.
0.0000 Hz 0.000 / 0.000 0.000 / 0.000 0 0 Since the simulation has two frequency sources, the frequency
20.00MHz 0.030 / -124.846 5.908E-4 / -12... -1 1 component indexes is two dimensional, i.e. {m1,m2}.
40.00MHz 5.586E-5 / 115... 1.117E-6 / 115... -2 2
60.00MHz 1.242E-6 / 79.... 2.483E-8 / 79.... -3 3 For example mix(Vout, {-1,1}) extracts Vout at frequency 20MHz.
350.0MHz 6.083E-9 / -16... 1.217E-10 / -1... 4 -3 The variables Mix(1) and Mix(2) is the frequency indexes. Usually
370.0MHz 4.881E-8 / -14... 9.762E-10 / -1... 3 -2 we employ the list function to display the frequency components of
390.0MHz 2.469E-7 / -15... 4.939E-9 / -15... 2 -1 a voltage or current together with the indexes.
410.0MHz 7.107E-6 / 48.... 1.421E-7 / 48.... 1 0
430.0MHz 1.174E-6 / -13... 2.348E-8 / -13... 0 1 Eqn Vif = mix(Vout,{-1,1})
450.0MHz 6.112E-9 / 123... 1.222E-10 / 12... -1 2
470.0MHz 2.016E-9 / 168... 4.033E-11 / 16... -2 3
490.0MHz 2.372E-10 / -1... 4.744E-12 / -1... -3 4 Eqn Iif = mix(ILoad.i,{-1,1})
780.0MHz 5.899E-9 / -10... 1.180E-10 / -1... 4 -2
800.0MHz 5.177E-8 / -12... 1.035E-9 / -12... 3 -1 Eqn Pif = 0.5*re(Vif*conj(Iif))
820.0MHz 7.578E-7 / -14... 1.516E-8 / -14... 2 0
840.0MHz 1.668E-7 / 37.... 3.335E-9 / 37.... 1 1 Eqn Pif_dbm = 10*log10(Pif) + 30
860.0MHz 6.552E-9 / -13... 1.310E-10 / -1... 0 2
880.0MHz 1.754E-10 / -5... 3.507E-12 / -5... -1 3 Alternatively we could just write:
900.0MHz 3.484E-11 / -1... 6.967E-13 / -1... -2 4 Pif = mix(0.5*re(Vout*conj(ILoad.i),{-1,1},Mix), Mix is variable for
1.190GHz 3.924E-9 / 9.896 7.847E-11 / 9.... 5 -2 all frequency components, it is only needed when we want to extract
1.210GHz 2.127E-8 / 4.076 4.255E-10 / 4.... 4 -1 an expression as in above.
1.230GHz 1.508E-7 / -1.6... 3.016E-9 / -1.6... 3 0
1.250GHz 4.352E-8 / 178... 8.704E-10 / 17... 2 1 The conversion gain G_conv is defined as:
1.270GHz 3.191E-9 / 2.201 6.382E-11 / 2.... 1 2
1.290GHz 4.725E-11 / 16... 9.450E-13 / 16... 0 3 G_conv = 10*log(Pif/Prf)
1.310GHz 4.465E-12 / 18... 8.930E-14 / 18... -1 4
1.330GHz 2.797E-11 / 12... 5.595E-13 / 12... -2 5
1.620GHz 6.599E-9 / 143... 1.320E-10 / 14... 5 -1
1.640GHz 3.168E-8 / 144... 6.335E-10 / 14... 4 0 The conversion gain. The index in RF_pow is arbitrary, as RF_pow
1.660GHz 1.124E-8 / -40.... 2.248E-10 / -4... 3 1 is a constant, it is the same for all frequencies.
1.680GHz 1.154E-9 / 135... 2.307E-11 / 13... 2 2
1.700GHz 3.715E-11 / -4... 7.429E-13 / -4... 1 3
Eqn G_conv = Pif_dbm-RF_pow[0]
freq Pif_dbm G_conv
20.00MHz -20.592 -0.592

Noise Figure at IF output and the equivalent Noise temparature

noisefreq te(2) nf(2)
20.00MHz 2004.840 8.984

Check for Local Oscillator coupling to input port

0.16
0.0035
0.14
0.0030
0.12
0.0025
mag(ISource.i)

0.10
mag(Vin)

0.0020
0.08
0.0015
0.06

0.04 0.0010

0.02 0.0005

0.00 0.0000
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
freq, GHz freq, GHz

Examining the time domain signals

Eqn Vout_t = ts(Vout) Eqn Vin_t = ts(Vin)

Eqn Iout_t = ts(ILoad.i) Eqn Iin_t = ts(ISource.i)

250
40
200

150
20
100
Vout_t, mV
Iout_t, mA
Vin_t, mV

50
Iin_t, mA

0
0

-50 -20
-100

-150 -40
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
-200

-250
time, nsec
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

time, nsec
F.Kung 14 Sep 2001
Designing Single Ended UHF BJT Mixer

Data Display for Gain Compresssion Test:

Equation to determine the IF output power

Eqn Vif = mix(Vout,{-1,1})
Eqn Iif = mix(ILoad.i,{-1,1})
Eqn Pif = 0.5*re(Vif*conj(Iif))

Eqn Pif_dbm = 10*log10(Pif) + 30

Steps to extrapolate the IF power

Eqn grad1 = (Pif_dbm[1] - Pif_dbm[0])/(RF_pow[1] - RF_pow[0])

Eqn C1 = Pif_dbm[0]
Extrapolate IF power equation:
Eqn Pif_ext = grad1*( RF_pow - RF_pow[0]) + C1

10

0
Pif_dbm

-10
Pif_ext

-20

-30

-40
-30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10

RF_pow

F.Kung 15 Sep 2001

 Designing Single Ended UHF BJT Mixer

Appendix 3 – Measurement Results

A measurement is carried out to verify that the mixer does indeed function properly. The
Setup is shown in Figure A31. Key instruments used are an Agilent ESG series signal
generator, a normal 100MHz bandwidth bench top digital sampling oscilloscope (DSO),
power supply and an Agilent 89XX series Vector Signal Analyzer (VSA). The VSA is
only used as a spectrum analyzer in this instance, thus any low cost spectrum analyzer
will do.

Agilent ESG series

signal generator

Agilent 89XX
series VSA

100MHz digital
sampling
oscilloscope
(Tektronix)

Mixer & LO

Figure A31 – The measurement setup.

Power
supply
for LO
Battery to power
Variable up mixer
frequency
oscillator
(LO)
Probe to
DSO (IF)

From signal generator

(RF)

Mixer

Figure A32 – Close-up view of the mixer.

F.Kung 16 Sep 2001

Designing Single Ended UHF BJT Mixer

The settings for the various instruments are as follows:

LO:

RF source: frequency = 430.0MHz, Power = -20dBm into 50Ω load.

LO source: frequency ≈ 410 MHz , Power = -5.48dBm into 50Ω load.
Power supply for mixer: 3.0V.

Figure A33 – Time domain IF output when RF signal is activated.

Figure A34 – Time domain IF output when RF signal is deactivated.

The mixer can work properly for RF power level down to –50dBm, when IF output is
almost equivalent to the noise floor. It can work to a lower RF power level if the LO
power level is increase (say to 0dBm).

F.Kung 17 Sep 2001