A Low-Current Ku-Band GaAs Monolithic Image Rejection Down-Converter

A single-chip image rejection down-converter has been designed, fabricated, and tested for broadcast satellite receivers operating in the 11.7- to 12.2-GHz range. The down-converter consists of an RF low-noise amplifier (LNA), a filtertype image rejection mixer (IRM), and an intermediate frequency amplifier (IFA). It receives 11.7- to 12.2-GHz RF signals and down-converts to 1.0- to 1.5-GHz IF signals with an external local oscillator. Since the filter integrated on the down-converter produces an image rejection of more than 30 dB, the down-converter requires no off-chip circuits for the image rejection. A conversion gain of 37 + 1 dB and a noise figure of less than 3.5 dB have been achieved over the RF frequency range. The current dissipation is only 40 mA, and the chip size is 2.8 mm x 2.8 mm x 0.45 mm.