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

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 170GHz). The mixer employs four identical NMOS passive switches (12lm/60nm) 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 0.7749mm2. 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. OP1dB 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.