A 2-V, low distortion, 1-GHz CMOS up-conversion mixer

A 1 GHz, very linear, CMOS up-conversion mixer is presented. The circuit is able to operate at a 2-V power supply. The topology has a true single-ended output stage which avoids the use of any balun. The total power consumption in both the mixers and the output stage is only 22 mW at 2 V. A profound analysis of the origins of distortion in the mixer has been performed. This study has resulted in the optimization of the linearity of the realized up-conversion mixer. The low power consumption, the low supply voltage, the high frequency performance, and the relatively large amplitude and low distortion single-ended off-chip output signal make the presented topology very suitable for wireless applications.