73 GHz pHEMT pumped transconductance RX Mixer with low local oscillator drive power

Future mmWave mobile architectures will benefit from low power RF circuits and systems. In this work we propose two pumped transconductance balanced mixers requiring low LO drive power and DC power. The mixers operate at circa 73 GHz RF and 70 GHz LO. A 90-degree hybrid is used on the input to simplify input matching. Off-chip IF matching is implemented on a test PCB. We observe a conversion gain of -17 dB for an LO power of -10 dBm, with a DC current of 1.3 mA and an IP1dB of - 3.3 dBm for one of the prototypes. LO powers down to -20 dBm are also potentially viable, if greater loss can be accepted.