A Low-Power 70–100-GHz Mixer-First RX Leveraging Frequency-Translational Feedback
Lorenzo Iotti, Sashank Krishnamurthy, Greg LaCaille, Ali M. Niknejad
Abstract
Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication systems mandate strict power and area requirements for receiver (RX) front ends, while noise performance can be relaxed due to averaging over the array. To address these needs at mm-waves, we propose an integrated mixer-first RX, leveraging frequency-translational feedback and passive voltage gain, to minimize the RX power consumption. An analytical model is developed, thus providing useful intuition on optimal design choices. A 28-nm CMOS prototype achieves S11<; -10 dB, NF <; 10 dB, and ~20-dB conversion gain over all the mm-wave E -band (71-95 GHz), while consuming only 12 mW including the local oscillator buffers. The power can be further reduced to 8 mW, with similar performance over a 74-94-GHz RF bandwidth.