Class Notes, 31415 RF-Communication Circuits

Chapter VII

MIXERS and DETECTORS

Jens Vidkjær

NB235
ii
Contents

VII Mixers and Detectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

VII-1 Mixer Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
A Prototype FET Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Example VII-1-1 Square-Law FET mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Example VII-1-2 Square-Law FET mixer - continued . . . . . 9
VII-2 Differential Stage Mixers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
VII-3 Gilbert-Cell Mixers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
References and Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

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VII Mixers and Detectors

The fundamental operation of a mixer is to multiply two signals. One of them is often
a modulated signal and the other a stable local oscillator output, and the purpose of the pro-
cess is to shift the carrier frequency in the modulated signal while keeping the information
carrying envelope - real or complex - intact. If one of the carriers is at zero frequency, DC,
this means that we are either shifting from or to baseband signals. In that case the circuits may
also be called modulators and demodulators respectively. Demodulator circuits are sometimes
included in a group of circuits known as detectors, although this term also comprises cases
where baseband information is extracted from a modulated signal without guidance from a
local oscillator. Finally, circuits that shifts from one carriers frequency to another are some-
times also called frequency converters.

Mixing processes were considered from a system point of view in sec.I-5. It was seen
that even an ideal multiplication process had undesirable effects that must be dealt with around
a multiplying circuit. There was removal of either unwanted sum or unwanted difference
frequency signal components by post filtering. Protection against image responses by pre-
filtering was another problem. In this chapter we shall present more details about circuit
implementations and consider limitations on ideal performances due to noise and non ideal
components.

This chapter is preliminary. You may find additional information on the subject in
ref’s [1],[2], or [3].

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VII-1 Mixer Basics

Multiplying voltage or current waveforms is a nonlinear process. A simple example

is the resultant response if two signals are applied to a nonlinear device. We have already seen
some consequences in the discussion of limitations in almost linear circuits in section VI-4.
There, considerations were made from the point of view, that the mixing process deteriorates
linear performance by introducing distortion and intermodulation signal components at
frequencies, which may differ from the input signal frequencies. Dealing with mixers,
however, we shall now organize the circuits to provide the best possible translation from one
frequency range to another.

A Prototype FET Mixer

Fig.1 FET transistor that is biased and driven for mixer applications. Figure (b) shows a
simplified transistor transfer characteristic.

In the preceding section IV-4 we saw how signal distortion was introduced when
device characteristics departed from linearity. In mixers it is the same nonlinear device
characteristics that are used to give the desired frequency translations. To fix ideas, Fig.1
demonstrates in principle how a FET may be employed as a mixer when two input signals are
applied to the gate. We assume that the transistor is biased, driven, and loaded in a way that
prevents saturation effects, so its operation may be described solely by its nonlinear transfer

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VII-1 Mixer Basics 3

characteristic in Fig.1(b). With both input signals set to zero, the transistor DC bias conditions
are fixed by

(1)

where the bias current to the drain flows through the RF-choke Lchk. VGG is the gate bias
voltage from the battery. When signals are applied, we suppose that the corresponding current
components are related to the input signal through a Taylor series expansion of the transfer
characteristic around the gate bias voltage VGG. Voltage vg denotes the deviation voltage
according to

(2)

Following the notation that was introduced in section IV-4, the drain current, when the two
time varying signals Vrf and Vlo are applied, is expressed

(3)
Inserting the two signal components, where

(4)

(5)

it is seen, that the second order term in the Taylor expansion provides a drain current
component, which is proportional to the product of the two input signals ,Vrf and Vlo. If we
let the RF signal be represented by a single tone so both applied signals are sinusoidal,

(6)

the generation of frequency components in the drain current follows basically the scheme that
formerly gave the distortion components in Eq.IV-136 for Taylor expansion components up
to third order. In present terms this equations reads,

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4 Mixers, Modulators, Demodulators, and Detectors

(7)

This result required repeated use of the following basic relations

(8)

Had we proceeded to even higher order of terms, recursive use of the last identities would
reveal that each order of expansion terms introduces components where, in double sided
representation based on the identity,

(9)

the frequencies become all possible combinations that may be written by

(10)

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VII-1 Mixer Basics 5

The resultant frequency from this process may be simpler than the expression above suggests
at a first glance. For instance, the left term of the third order components in Eq.(7)(c1)
develops as

(11)

Here the resultant frequency keeps no indication of the Taylor expansion order in the non-
linear mixing characteristic, N=3, that caused this particular frequency component. Note,
however, that the amplitudes hold information about the order. In the example above, the two
contributions are both of third order in voltages, VRF33 and VRFVLO2 respectively.

A common way of expressing the resultant frequency components from a mixing

process in literature is1

(12)

According to the discussion above, there is no simple one to one relationship between the
integer set n,m and Taylor expansion order(s) for the mixing nonlinearity. The only point that
can be states that a mixing frequency given by Eq.(12) cannot originate from an expansion
term of order less than |n|+|m|.

Returning to basic mixing properties, the product term from Eq.(4) provides both the
sum and the difference frequency drain current components in Eq.(7)(b2). Which one to use
depends on the application at hand. In a receiver the typical mixer function is to shift the
frequency region of an incoming RF-signal down to a lower intermediate frequency, IF, range.
Had we used the diagram in Fig.1 directly we would get output voltage components at all
combination frequencies in the Taylor expansion of the current. A simple way to sort out the
desired component is indicated by Fig.2, where the load of the FET is made by a parallel
circuit that is tuned to IF at the difference frequency

(13)

If the Q-factor for the tuned circuit is high enough, the IF current component provides the
dominant contribution to the output voltage while all other current components are practically
short circuited. In this case, the output voltage is given by the IF component Id,if in the drain
current,

(14)

Consult ref’s [1], [2], or [3], for more elaboration on this subject.

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6 Mixers, Modulators, Demodulators, and Detectors

Fig.2 Simple FET transistor mixer, where the parallel circuit L, C is tuned to the IF
frequency.

Like the case of distortion in almost linear circuits, residual signal components at all but the
desired IF frequencies are called spurious signals.

Sometimes, the ratio of the current amplitude at the desired output frequency, here
the IF, over the input RF voltage amplitude is called the conversion transconductance2. The
ratio of the desired frequency output voltage amplitude over the input RF voltage amplitude
is correspondingly called the conversion voltage gain or just the conversion gain if it is clear
from the context that we are dealing with voltages, not powers. In the present case we have

(15)

(16)

Introducing conversion quantities, we may now express

(17)

2 ) The Danish term is "blandingsstejlhed".

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VII-1 Mixer Basics 7

so Gcnv and Acnv are used the same way in amplitude calculations as the traditional transcon-
ductance and voltage gain factors are used in conventional circuit characterization. It must be
kept in mind, however, that conversion transconductances and conversion gains relate current
and voltage components of different frequencies and, furthermore, these quantities depends
not only on simple device and DC biasing properties, but also on the local oscillator signal,
VLO. In order not to distort the information in a modulated signal envelope when the carrier
frequency is changed by a mixer, the conversion transconductances and gains are supposed
to be independent of the RF signal level, VRF. Like transconductance and gain, concepts like
compression, intermodulation, or intercept points are inherited from the almost linear amplifier
terminology to characterize distortions introduced in mixers, now with the complication, that
the input and output frequency ranges of significance are no longer coincident.

Example VII-1-1 Square-Law FET mixer

In ideal form the transfer characteristic of a n-channel FET that is biased for normal
operation is a part of a parabola,[4]. It ranges from zero current at the so-called pinch-off
or threshold voltage VP - a negative voltage - and the saturation current IDSS at zero gate-
source voltage as expressed by

(18)

First and second order derivatives of the drain currents are

(19)

and all higher order derivatives are zero, so the Taylor expansion in Eq.(3) for a given gate
biasing, VGG, is given through

(20)

As seen, the second order b-term is independent of the bias voltage VGG, i.e. constant across
the whole gate voltage range where the transistor conducts current. In this range the b term
determines the conversion transconductance, which becomes

(21)

The maximum conversion transconductance limit in the expression is approached if the RF

signal is small compared to the local oscillator signal, which is set to the maximum amplitude,

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8 Mixers, Modulators, Demodulators, and Detectors

where the transistor is conducting all times. That is VLO= ½|VP|, gate bias VGG= ½VP, and
assuming VRF << VLO as sketched in Fig.3.

Fig.3 Local oscillator driving of a square-law FET mixer for max. continuous mode
conversion transconductance. The RF signal, VRF, is much smaller than VLO.

Example VII-1-1 end

The assumption of a small RF signal compared to the local oscillator signal - which
gave the maximum conversion gain in the example above, applies commonly to the initial
mixers in radio receivers. The assumption provide the background for a method of calculating
conversion gains in mixer circuits by the so-called time-varying transconductance approach
3
, which is an alternative to the Taylor expansions we have considered so far. Here the trans-
conductance, which is calculated like the "a" term in the Taylor series expansion, is taken as
a function of both the DC bias and the large local oscillator time dependent signal. When the
small RF signal is applied, the resultant mixing components in the drain current are calculated
like conventional small signal current components by multiplying the RF gate voltage by a
transconductance. However, the latter is now time dependent, so we may express the mixing
components in the drain current by

(22)

To find a particular mixing component with a given time dependent transconductance

waveshape, it must be expanded in a Fourier series,

3 ) The approach is also called "Large Signal - Small Signal" analysis.

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VII-1 Mixer Basics 9

(23)

Here, it is assumed that the transconductance waveshape Gd,mix(t) is symmetrical with respect
to t=0. If this is not the case we must elaborate the Fourier expansion correspondingly. To find
a particular mixing components with a given RF component of frequency ωRF, each Fourier
coefficient gives rise to two mixing products, one sum and one difference frequency between
the RF and one of the local oscillator components, usually the fundamental local oscillator
frequency component at ωLO corresponding to m=1 in

(24)

Conversion transconductance is still defined like Eq.(15) by the ratio of the desired frequency
component in the drain current over the RF signal amplitude, so we have to select one of
above component by filtering. In time-varying transconductance terminology, the conversion
transconductance becomes

(25)

where gmix,m is the Fourier coefficient of appropriate order in the expansion of the trans-
conductance waveshape.

Example VII-1-2 Square-Law FET mixer - continued

There are several practical drawbacks in the square-law mixer circuit that was
considered in the preceding example. One of them is that gate bias and local oscillator voltage
depends on the pinch voltage of the FET. This parameter is commonly subject to large
spreadings, say 100% or more. Precise tracking would therefore require adjustment capabilities
in the circuit and tuning in production. We may reduce the direct dependencies of the pinch
voltage with a higher local oscillator amplitude than we had before. In consequence, the FET
must be non conducting - i.e. cut off - in part of the oscillator period. Assume that the RF
signal is small compared to the local oscillator amplitude, so it totally dominates the drain
current waveshape and the switching instants of the FET. The drain current pulse train is
illustrated in Fig.4, and the corresponding time varying transconductance is shown in Fig.5.
It is given though

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10 Mixers, Modulators, Demodulators, and Detectors

(26)

Since the current characteristic Id(Vgs) is square-law when the transistor conducts current, the
corresponding transconductance is a linear function of Vgs. Therefore - using a sinusoidal local
oscillator - the transconductance waveshape becomes a train of sine-tips. We have already
considered the Fourier expansion of this waveshape in conjunction with the power amplifier
discussion in chapter 5. The transistor opening angle θ, i.e. the portion of a period where the
transistor conducts, may still be used as the controlling parameter. Thereby the conversion
transconductance is expressed

(27)

Fig.4 Current pulses in square-law FET mixer with large sinusoidal LO drive. The RF
signal is small, VRF VLO.

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VII-1 Mixer Basics 11

Fig.5 Time varying transconductance in square-law FET mixer with large, sinusoidal
local oscillator drive.

The ratio ym/yp represents the Fourier coefficient and it is taken from Table 5-1 using the
appropriate local oscillator mixing harmonic component number m. The peak value in the
transconductance pulse train is gm(Vgs,max). If Vgs is driven up to 0 V, the peak value is

(28)

A few extracts from Table 5-1 in the case of fundamental frequency local oscillator mixing,
m=1, are summarized in Table I. It is seen here that in the limit case of full conduction,
θ=360°, we get a conversion conductance in agreement with the maximum limit in the previ-

Table I Fourier coefficient of sinetips. Extracts from table 5-1.

θ y1 /yp y2 /yp y3 /yp

0 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000

90 0.3102 0.2562 0.1811
180 0.5000 0.2122 0.0000
270 0.5326 0.0439 -0.0311
360 0.5000 0.0000 0.0000

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12 Mixers, Modulators, Demodulators, and Detectors

Fig.6 Time-varying transconductance in square-wave driven FET mixer.

ous result from Eq.(21). Between full conduction and half-time conduction at θ=180°, the
conversion transconductance exceeds this value by a small amount. If the conduction angle
goes below θ=180°, conversion transconductance reduces correspondingly. However, the
smaller the conduction angle, the smaller is the significance of the actual pinch voltage
parameter size, |VP|, since the local oscillator amplitude VLO must rise correspondingly. With
a maximum gate to source voltage of zero volts, which implies that the gate bias is VGG=-
VLO , the relationships between the two are expressed through

Instead of driving by a sinusoidal local oscillator, the transconductance could be

square-waved using a square-waved local oscillator signal. In the simple case sketched in
Fig.6, where the conduction angle is 180°, the conversion transconductance becomes

(30)

Here the 4/π factor is the Fourier coefficient of a square-wave that is normalized to the
interval [+1,-1], so the amplitude to be used is ½gm(Vgs,max). Square-wave local oscillator
signals are feasible in many cases, since they resemble outputs from limiter circuits that may
be used to minimize the effects of local oscillator amplitude noise and fluctuations in sensitive
equipment like radio receivers.

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VII-1 Mixer Basics 13

Driving the mixer with a local oscillator signal that is so large that the transistor
becomes non-conducting, like it was done in this example, has the consequence, that mixing
takes place around harmonic components of the local oscillator signal. We have assumed that
any undesired or spurious frequency component is removed by subsequent filtering, but clearly
the more spurious components generated, the more efforts must be given to the filtering
problem. When the FET mixer was used in continuous mode in the foregoing example, no
higher order mixing took place, so the price paid by making the mixer less sensitive to
parameter variations by enlarging the local oscillator drive could be that the filtering require-
ments are tightened.

Example VII-1-1 end

The FET mixer prototype we have considered in this section was introduced as a
vehicle to exemplify how the required multiplying function may be realized through a
nonlinear characteristic. Besides this very basic property there are several more concerns for
employing mixers in RF-circuits which we shall deal with below. If we should use the
prototype FET mixer as an outset for a practical application, we should probably rearrange the
circuit as sketched in Fig.7, where the RF and LO signals are separated so each of them gets
a ground terminal. ZRF and ZLO represent the generator impedance of the RF and LO sources
respectively and they are applied through coupling capacitors Ccpg and Ccps. Biasing of the
transistor is made through RG and RS1,RS2. We ascribe no DC voltage across RG as the ideal
FET requires no gate bias current. The gate source biasing is establish by the DC current
through the transistor and RS1+RS2. It is assumed that the FET has a negative threshold
voltage VP.

Fig.7 Practical realization of a FET mixer including biasing. A negative threshold vol-
tage is assumed.

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VII-2 Differential Stage Mixers

Fig.8 Differential stage mixer coupling. Ccpli and Ccple are coupling and decoupling
capacitors. R1 to R3 are bias resistors. Filtering is made outside this circuit.

The differential amplifier structure that was considered in Chapter 5 may also serve
as a mixing circuit. One way of doing this is sketched in Fig.8. The local oscillator signal is
applied to the differential input terminals while the common tail current, which formerly was
a constant bias current, now is overlaid by the RF signal through a conventional common
emitter stage around transistor Q3. Assuming small signal conditions for the RF signal, the tail
current is expressed through

(31)

Here, appropriate bias resistor settings establish the DC current level, I0 . Inserting into the
large signal expression for the differential amplifier, Eq.5-138, the differential output current
may now be written

(32)

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16 Mixers, Modulators, Demodulators, and Detectors

To see the mixing properties, we assume initially that both the RF and the local oscillator
signals are sinusoidal,

(33)

and, furthermore, that the local oscillator amplitude is small compared to Vt, so if suffice to
use the first, linear term in the Taylor series expansion

(34)

(35)

Now the differential current may be written

(36)

No mixing is associated with the first term since it contains only the local oscillator frequency
component. The second term holds the mixing product

(37)

By subsequent filtering, the desired intermediate frequency component, either

(38)

must be selected. It is represented by the differential current

(39)

The corresponding conversion parameters now take the forms

(40)

(41)

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VII-1 Differential Stage Mixers 17

It is often desirable to use a local oscillator signal that is larger than the size
assumed by the approximation in Eq.(35). With growing local oscillator signal we shall, like
the limiter development in Section 5-3, reach a limit where the two differential transistors Q1
and Q2 are operated as antagonistic switches. In that case we may approximate the result of
the hyperbolic tangent function by a square-wave and approximate,

(42)

Now the differential current becomes

(43)

Again, the first term contributes nothing to the mixing function. It holds only fundamental and
harmonic frequency components of the local oscillator signal. The last term, however, hold
mixing products around the local oscillator frequency and higher harmonic components.
Isolating one component from mixing with local oscillator fundamental frequency gives

(44)

The corresponding conversion parameters, which are independent of the local oscillator signal
level, now become

(45)

(46)

If the output of a mixing circuit includes unmixed fundamental and higher harmonic
frequency components of both the RF and the LO signals before the IF filter is applied, the
mixer is called unbalanced. If one of these family of components are suppressed before
filtering, the mixer is called single balanced, if both families are absent, the mixer is called
double balanced. In this terminology, the differential stage mixer above is single balanced.
Besides selecting the proper IF components, the subsequent IF filter has to suppress the local
oscillator components down to levels where they do no harm. An alternative is to employ two
cross-coupled differential stages to achieve double balancing by the so called Gilbert Cell
mixer, which is discussed next.

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VII-3 Gilbert-Cell Mixers

Fig.9 Gilbert-Cell. The input terminals must be properly biased in addition to differential
inputs VLO and VRF. All current expressions assume transistor current gains αf
equal to one.

Cross coupling two differential stage mixers that are current biased through a
common DC tail current gives the structure in Fig.9. It is called a Gilbert Cell after its
inventor. Compared with the single differential stage mixer, also the RF signal is now applied
to a differential input port. As seen in the figure, there are three differentially operated
transistor pairs in this configuration, and to investigate the mixing function, we shall make
repeated use of the differential stage results from Section 5-3. It is convenient, therefore, to
introduce the input signal normalization that was used formerly, i.e.

(47)

The common tail current is here kept at a constant DC value, I0. The differential current in
the bottom transistor pair, which is driven by the RF signal, becomes

(48)

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VII-1 Differential Stage Mixers 19

where αf is the common base current gain of the transistors. Commonly it has a value slightly
below one, say 0.98. Including the effect of the bottom differential current, ΔI0, the differential
and tail currents for the two LO signal operated transistor pairs are expressed

(49)

(50)

Finally, the two differential terms above subtracts to the final output differential current ΔIout,

(51)

We may use the Taylor series expansions and assumptions from Eqs.(34),(35) to approximate

(52)

Compared with the similar expressions from the single differential stage mixer like Eq.(36),
it is seen that only a product term remains. There is no separate LO signal terms, so the
Gilbert Cell has clearly doubly balanced mixer function. For the same reason, a Gilbert Cell
driven by small input signals is sometimes called a pure four-quadrant multiplier.
With sinusoidal input signals

(53)

the frequency component of desired intermediate frequency IF, where

(54)

has the amplitude

(55)

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20 Mixers, Modulators, Demodulators, and Detectors

Thereby, the conversion parameters for a Gilbert Cell Mixer operated by small signals at both
the RF and the LO ports become,

(56)

(57)

With a large signal input to the local oscillator port, i.e. xlo>6 or VLO>150 mV, the
upper differential pairs are operated like switches as sketched in Fig.10. The direction of the
RF-signal controlled differential current, ΔI0, is changed according to the sign and in turns the
frequency of the LO signal. In the limit, where we assume ideal instant switching, the LO
controlled hyperbolic tangent factor in Eq.(51) should be replaced by the Fourier expansion
of a square-wave like Eq.(42). With this replacement we get

(58)

Maintaining the assumption of a small RF signal, and mixing around the fundamental LO
frequency component, the output differential current IF terms have amplitudes of

Fig.10 Gilbert-Cell circuit used as a switching mixer. The RF differential current is

reverted when the local oscillator voltage VLO shifts between high positive (a) and
negative (b) levels.

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VII-1 Differential Stage Mixers 21

(59)

The mixing parameters in switched operation now become

(60)

(61)

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22 Mixers, Modulators, Demodulators, and Detectors

Problems

P.VII-1

Fig.11

Fig.11 shows the principle for a mixer with a square-law FET. Both the RF and the
LO signals are sinusoidal at frequency fRF = 450MHz and fLO = 520 MHz respec-
tively. The load circuit has quality factor QIF = 100, and it is tuned to fIF = 70 MHz.
The load resistor is RL=1kΩ. Capacitor Cdcp is a decoupling capacitor. It is assumed
that the RF signal is much smaller then the local oscillator amplitude.

Find the bias resistor RE and the local oscillator amplitude VLO that give mean drain
current equal to 10 mA and forces the transistor peak current to IDSS.

Sketch the time varying transconductance - minimum and maximum values - and find
the conversion transconductance. What is the IF output voltage if an RF signal of
2mV is applied to the RF input port?

Fig.12

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VII-1 Differential Stage Mixers 23

In practice, the RF signal is applied through a transformer as shown in Fig.12. The

input circuit is tuned to fRF and has quality factor QRF = 20 including the effect of
the generator resistance Rg.

What is the image frequency of the mixer. Estimate the IF output voltage if an image
frequency input signal of 2mV amplitude is applied to the RF input port?

P.VII-2

Fig.13

Fig.13 shows a differential stage mixer. The bias current without any RF signal is set
by resistor R0, which is chosen to give I0=5mA. The local oscillator frequency is 120
MHz and the amplitude VLO is set to provide a differential amplitude of ΔIc,LO = 2.5
mA at the local oscillator frequency if no RF signal is applied. The RF signal is of
frequency 100 MHz is applied through coupling capacitor C0. The load circuit L, C
is tuned to a intermediate frequency of 20 MHz. Including the load resistance
RL=1kΩ, the load circuit has Q factor equal to 100.

What is the conversion transconductance of the stage and the corresponding local
oscillator voltage amplitude, VLO ? Find the IF output voltage VIF if the RF signal
is an unmodulated carrier of 5 mV.
Note, it is not assumed in this problem that VLO is << Vt.

An amplitude modulated RF signal,

(62)

where m is the modulation index and the baseband frequency fBB << fRF, is applied.
The resultant intermediate frequency output is written

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24 Mixers, Modulators, Demodulators, and Detectors

(63)

where the frequency dependency of the resultant modulation index, mIF, is caused by
the frequency characteristic of the tuning circuit.

At which baseband frequency is the resultant modulation index mIF reduced 3dB
compared to the input index m ?

The envelope of the IF output is distorted due to the nonlinear transfer characteristic
of the mixer. Assume a low baseband frequency and show that the 2nd and 3rd
harmonic contribution to the total harmonic distortion of the IF envelope for small
RF signals, VRF << Vt = 25mV are

(64)

The exponential function series expansion may be useful to answer the last question,

(65)

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References and Further Reading

[1] R.S.Carson, Radio Communication Concepts: Analog, Wiley 1990.

[2] S.A.Maas, Microwave Mixers, 2nd ed., Artech House 1993.

[3] S.A.Maas, Nonlinear Microwave Circuits, Artech House 1988.

[4] A.S.Sedra, K.C.Smith, Microelectronic Circuits, 3rd ed., Saunders, 1991.

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26 Mixers, Modulators, Demodulators, and Detectors

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Index
Conversion Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Conversion Transconductance . . . . . . 6
Conversion Voltage Gain . . . . . . . . . 6
Demodulators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Detectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Double Balanced Mixer . . . . . . . . . . 17
Frequency Converters . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Gilbert-Cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Large Signal - Small Signal Anal-
ysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Mixer
balanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Conversion Gain . . . . . . . . . . . 6
double balanced . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
unbalanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Mixers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
FET basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Gilbert-Cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Modulators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Single Balanced Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Spurious Signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Switching Conversion Gain
differential stage mixer . . . . . . . 17
Gilbert cell mixer . . . . . . . . . . 21
Time-Varying Transconductance . . . . 8

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