Switching circuit, integrated circuit, active mixer circuit and method thereof

Abstract

There is provided a switching circuit for an active mixer. The switching circuit comprises a first pair of parallel switching devices and a second pair of parallel switching devices. The first and second pairs of parallel switching devices are arranged in a stacked configuration between an input node at which an input current comprising a first input frequency signal is received and a pair of differential output nodes. The first pair of switching devices are controlled by a second input frequency signal. The second pair of switching devices are controlled by a phase-shifted counterpart of the second input frequency signal. A common node between the first switching devices of the first and second pairs of switching devices is electrically coupled to a common node between the second switching devices of the first and second pairs of switching devices.

Description

【Technical field】 [0001] This invention relates to switching circuits, and more particularly to switching circuits for active mixer circuits. 【Background technique】 [0002] In the technical field of radio frequency transmitters, a mixer circuit is used to up-convert a low frequency baseband signal or an intermediate frequency signal into a radio frequency signal. Signal distortions caused by mixer circuits may result in corruption of the underlying signal and may result in undesired spectral components falling in other frequency bands causing unnecessary interference to other transmitting units. Therefore, minimizing signal distortion in mixer circuits is an important issue. [0003] figure 1 An example is used to illustrate a conventional active mixer circuit structure 100 . Unlike passive mixer circuits, active mixer circuits can have gain and use an amplifying element to ensure the desired signal strength of the product signal. Active mixer circuits also provide good...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, the problem with the above solution is to generate the above quenching signal which needs to be very precise and correctly timed (signal delay needs to be close to zero or synchronous) so that it only acts in overlapping periods

The mixer will be shorted as long as the quenching device is active, so if the quenching device is active longer than necessary, it will significantly deteriorate the operation of the mixer (reduce gain)

It is difficult to generate a quenching signal in practical applications, and the circuit that generates the quenching signal usually requires high power consumption

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