Dual-mode E-band mixer for 6G mmWave front-ends: simple structure with reconfigurable PT/resistive operation for optimized gain and linearity

A dual-mode E-band mixer with a novel yet simple FET-based structure is designed and simulated using a 100 nm pHEMT PH10 process. The mixer employs a switchable impedance network and reconfigurable DC biasing to enable two distinct operational modes: a pump transconductance (PT) mode for higher conversion gain and a resistive mode for enhanced linearity. The results show that the mixer achieves a conversion gain of -4.2 dB in PT mode and -15.9 dB in resistive mode. In PT mode, with a 5 dBm LO drive, the input third-order intercept point (IIP3) is 1 dBm, and the input 1-dB compression point (IP1dB) is -4 dBm. In resistive mode, with a 2.6 dBm LO drive, the mixer achieves an IIP3 of 6 dBm and an IP1dB of 4 dBm. These results highlight the potential of the proposed design for 6G mmWave front-ends that require dynamic performance optimisation, such as balancing the trade-off between gain and linearity.