A 160-Gb/s D-Band Bi-Directional CMOS Mixer Covering 112–170 GHz for 6G Transceivers

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Abstract
This work presents a D-band bi-directional CMOS double-balanced mixer (DBM) supporting data rates over 160 Gb/s with a 58-GHz RF bandwidth (112–170 GHz). The mixer employs four identical NMOS passive switches ( $12~\mu $ m/60 nm) in a DBM topology, providing the isolation between RF, LO, and IF ports. Both IF and RF are bi-directional, enabling up conversion and down conversion. The proposed mixer is fabricated in a 65-nm CMOS process with an integrated LO-driver amplifier. LO amplifier has a 9.5-dB simulated gain and an 8-dBm saturated output power. The total area, including RF and DC pads is 0.7749 mm2. The measurement result shows a −12.5-dB conversion gain in both directions with differential signals and a 3-dB extra loss in a single-ended configuration. $\mathrm { OP_{1dB}}$ is −13.5 dBm for up conversion and −5.5 dBm for down conversion. In modulated signal measurements, the mixer handles a 40-GHz bandwidth OFDM 16-QAM signal centered at 135 GHz, demonstrating a 160-Gb/s data rate in both up conversion and down conversion.
Funding Information
  • Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (JPJ000254)
  • National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (JPJ012368C00801)
  • Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JP20H00236)
  • Special Award for Tokyo Tech Advanced Researchers
  • VLSI Design and Education Center (VDEC) in collaboration with Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
  • Mentor Graphics, Inc.
  • Keysight Technologies Japan, Ltd.

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