Chapter 13 Oscillators and mixers

13.2 Microwave oscillators

one-port negative resistance oscillator, transistor oscillator,
DRO (dielectric resonator oscillator)
13.5 Mixers
single-ended mixer, balanced mixer, FET mixers

13-1

13.2 Microwave oscillators

one-port negative resistance oscillators
nonlinear
linear
@ steady state
Xin(I,w)
I
XL(w)
KVL ( Z L Z in ) I 0
Rin(I,w)
RL
I 0 RL Rin 0, X L X in 0
negative
passive load Rin 0
in, Zin L, ZL
Discussion
1. oscillator concept
noise circuit unstable Rin(I,w)+RL(w) < 0
feedback and amplify near wo
at steady state Rin(Io,wo)+RL = 0, Xin(Io,wo)+XL(wo) = 0
oscillation at wo with output power Po = 1/2Io2R
2. Zin+ZL = 0 in L = 1
L

Z L Z o Zin Z o Zin Z o
1

Z L Z o Zin Z o Zin Z o in
13-2

3. A high-Q tuning circuit enhances the oscillation stability

using perturbation analysis
ZT ( I , s ) Z L ( s ) Z in ( I , s ) 0, s jw

0 ZT

ZT ( I , s ) ZT ( I o , so )
s jw

s
so , Io

ZT / I
ZT / s

ZT
I

I 0
so , Io

I j
so , Io

ZT / I Z *T / w
ZT / w

so , Io

if I 0 occurs 0 for a stable oscillation

Z Z *T
( RT jX T ) ( RT jX T )
Im T

0,
or
Im

R X T X T RT
T

0
I w
I w
R X T X in Rin
RL X L RL

0 for a passive load in

0
I
I
w
I w
I w
( X L X in )
X
T
0
w
w

13-3

4. oscillator design consideration

selection of device operation point for stable oscillation and
good o/p power, large signal performance, phase noise,
frequency pulling,
5. Ex.13.2 a diode with in=1.2540 @6GHz
Zin=-44+j123, ZL =44-j123
0.254l

50

diode

0.308l

L, ZL

13-4

in, Zin

 transistor oscillator

Terminating
network

[S]

Load
network
(output port)

S in>1
out>1 L
Zinnegative ZLnegative
1.
2.
3.

Select transistor configuration to enhance its instability

Select L to produce large value of negative Rin
Choose RS = -Rin/3, XS = -Xin

Discussion
1. at steady state in S = 1 out L= 1

1 S11 S
S S
1
in S11 12 21 L L
, S11S22 S12 S21
S
1 S22 L
S22 S

out S22

S12 S21 S S22 S

L out 1
1 S11 S
1 S11 S
13-5

2. Ex13.3 FET (CE) @4GHz

S11 0.72 116, S12 0.0357, S21 2.6 76, S22 0.73 54

(CG) with a 5nH inductor

S '11 2.18 35, S '12 1.2618, S '21 2.7596, S '22 0.52155

o/p stability circle

CL 1.0833, RL 0.665

select
L 0.59 104 a large in 3.96 2.4
Zin 84 j1.9 Z S

Rin
jX in 28 j1.9
3

|in|=1

unstable
region
L

load

L-plane

S in
13-6

L
R
C
1:
N

DRO (dielectric resonator oscillator)

ZL
Zo

Zin
Zo

N 2R
Z ( w) N Z in ( w)
1 j 2QU w / wo
2

R
R
QU
wo L
wo L
N 2R
g

2
2
RL / N
2Z o / N
Qe
2Z o
wo L
wo L
Zo N 2 R Zo
N 2R
g

Z o N 2 R Z o 2Z o N 2 R 1 g
1
13-7

Discussion
1. DRO examples

l/4

Terminating
circuit

Terminating
circuit

13-8

2. Ex13.4 BJT @2.4GHz

S11 1.8130, S12 0.445, S21 3.836, S22 0.7 63

DR Qu=1000
select S (S11S~1) to give a large out

out S22

S12 S21 S
1 S11 S

S 0.6 130 a large out 10.7132, Z out 43.7 j 6.1

Rout
jX out 14.6 j 6.1
3
'S S e j 2lr 0.6180 lr 0.431l

ZL

N 2 R 12.5
Z 12.5 g

0.25
Zo
50
'
S

lr
l/4

S S in out ZL
13-9

13.5 Mixers
single-ended mixer
RF

IF

RF

IF

LO
down converter

LO
C(vLO)

(vRF vLO ) 2
G'
i (t )
G 'd d (a cos wrf t b cos wLOt ) 2
2
2
vIF (t ) cos( wrf wLO )t

wIF

+
vRF
R(vLO)

linear time-varying
components

wRF wLO wRF

LSB
USB
13-10

Discussion
1. heterodyne receiver
channel
select filter

LNA

lower
Q

LPF
w1

w2
Aocoswot
wo

Relax the Q required of the channel-select filter.

Down-conversion mixer typically has high noise, its then preceded
by a LNA.

13-11

2. problem of heterodyne receiver

Image signal degrades the receiver sensitivity.

LPF
wm

w1
wIF

wIF
Aocoswot

wIF
wo

One can use an image-reject filter, but it introduces losses.

image reject
filter

image
reject
filter
wm

w1

Aocoswot

2wIF
13-12

3. choice of IF depends on
the amount of image noise
the spacing between the desired band and the image
the loss of image-reject filter
trade-off between sensitivity and selectivity
high IF

image reject filter

w1

wm

interferer

reject image

channel select filter

wIF

2wIF
low IF

w1

wm
2wIF

wIF

suppress nearby interferer

13-13

4. dual-IF hetrodyne receiver

Partial channel selection at progressively lower center frequencies
Relax the Q required of each filter
Frequency planning, NF, IP3 and gain calculation are important

band
select
filter
BPF 1

LNA

image
reject
filter

Acos
LPF 5
ADC

channel
select
filter

BPF 2

I
BPF 3

LO 1

Acos(t+)
+Bsin (t+)

13-14

sint
LO 2
cost

channel
select filter
Bsin
LPF 4

Q
ADC

5. Ex 13.7 IS-54 digital cell telephone f RF 869 ~ 894GHz,

f IF 87MHz
f LO f RF f IF

956 ~ 981MHz
(869 ~ 894) 87
782 ~ 807 MHz

f RF ,m
1043 ~ 1048MHz

f RF ,m
699 ~ 720 MHz

f LO
782 ~ 807 MHz

f RF
f LO
869 ~ 894 MHz 956 ~ 981MHz

f RF
869 ~ 894 MHz

13-15

6. mixer characteristics
available RF input power
conversion loss
Lc (dB) 10 log
IF output power
DSB noise figure = SSB noise figure / 2
SSB T ( To TSSB )Gr To Gi TSSB

T To ( Gr Gi )
Gr

DSB T ( To TDSB )( Gr Gi ) TDSB

T To ( Gr Gi )
Gr Gi

LO/RF isolation
7. single-ended diode mixer
relative high noise figure, high conversion loss, high-order
nonlinearities, no isolation between LO and RF, large output current
at LO frequency
13-16

8. single-ended FET mixer

Gate-bias is near the pinch-off region, LO signal then switches FET
between high and low transconductance states to give mixing function.
VRF

vcRF VcRF cos wRF t

VcRF VRF

Rg

1/ jwRF C gs

Ri

Z g Ri 1/ jwRF C gs

VRF

1 jwRF C gs ( Ri Z g )

RO

Vc
S

VLO

D
Cgs
gmVc

Rd RL

RF
c

g m (t )v

, g m (t ) g o 2 g n cos nwot g1VcRF cos wIF t

n 0

VDIF g1VcRF

Rd Z L
Rd Z L
g1VRF

Rd Z L 1 jwRF C gs ( Ri Z g ) Rd Z L
2

Gc

PIF ,ava
PRF ,ava

VDIF RL / Z L
2

VRF / 4 Rg

4 Rg RL VDIF

2
VRF
ZL

Rg Ri

g12 Rd
Gc
2
RL Rd
4 wRF
C gs2 Ri

9. Ex13.8 A single-ended FET mixer R d 300, R i 10, C gs 0.3 pF

g 12 R d
g 1 10mS G c
36.6 15.6dB
2
2

4w RF C gs R i 13-17

10. single-balanced mixer

good
RF/LO
isolation

RF
LO

180
hybrid

LPF

IF

phasor representation
IF IIF
IIF

IF
VLO VRF

VRF

VLO VRF

13-18

VRF

LO AM noise suppression

In,IF=0

IF

Vn VLO

In,IF

VLO Vn

Vn

In,IF
Vn

LO even-harmonic suppression
I1
V1

I 2 aV2 bV22 cV23 dV24

v1 vLO cos wLO t vRF cos wRF t

V2

IIF = I1-I2

I1 aV1 bV12 cV13 dV14

I2 v v cos w t v cos w t
2
LO
LO
RF
RF

13-19

I2 I 1
V2

V1

good
RF
RF VSWR

90
hybrid

poor RF/LO LO
isolation

IF

LPF

0 j 1 0 1
0 0 j 1 0 0 0

1 j 0 0 1 0 1 j j 0 0 1 j 0

0
1
0
0
j
0
1
1
0
0
j

2
2

0
1
j
0
0
0
0
1
j
0
0
j
2

IF

IF
VRF VLO 90

VLO VRF 90

13-20

VIF 90

VIF 90

11. double-balanced mixer

A
D2 D1

RF

180
hybrid

B
D4

B'

A, A virtual ground for LO

B, B virtual ground for RF
vL>0D1, D2 on
vL<0D3, D4 on

D3
A'
IF

LO

vL

good RF/LO isolation

LO and RF even-harmonics suppressed
13-21

12. image-reject mixer

RF

v rA

vr

viA

90
hybrid

LO
v

v1

90
hybrid

viB

B
r

vr USB LSB USB vu ( wo wi )t

LSB
IF

v 2 USB

LSB vL ( wo wi )t

vrA USB( wo wi )t 90 LSB( wo wi )t 90

vrB USB( wo wi )t LSB( wo wi )t
viA USBwi t 90 LSB wi t 90 USBwi t 90 LSBwi t 90
viB USBwi t LSB wi t USBwi t LSBwi t
v1 viA 90 viB 2 LSBwi t
v2 viA viB 90 2USBwi t
13-22

13. differential mixer

Gilbert cell mixer

IF
signal

IF
signal

IF balun

IF balun
LO
signal

LO
balun
RF
signal

LO
balun
LO signal
RF
balun

ADS examples: Ch13_prj

13-23

RF
signal