AN EFFICIENT SPICE-BASED TECHNIQUE FOR PERFORMANCE CHARACTERIZATION OF BJT MIXERS

In this paper, we present a fast and simple SPICE-based technique for the performance characterization of BJT mixers. First, exploiting fundamental concepts, an AC equivalent circuit of a radio-frequency bipolar junction transistor mixer is derived. Second, this equivalent circuit is used to estimate the conversion gain, noise-figure, and nonlinearity characteristics of the mixer. The proposed technique has been validated using simulations on integrated and discrete transistor based mixer circuits.