F1102 Dual 400-1000 MHz RF to IF Mixer

An RF mixer is used to change the frequency of a signal, while preserving its other characteristics such as phase and amplitude. This is done to allow amplification of the received signal at a frequency other than the RF. This design is about the F1102 dual 400 – 1000 MHz RF to IF mixer. It is an evaluation board where the customers can use to evaluate the product and use for product development.

The circuit uses the F1102NBGI device, which is an RF to IF downconverting mixer from IDT. The downconverter mixers are part of receiver systems and are driven by an RF signal in the input side and outputs an IF signal. It is optimized for operation in a multicarrier base station receiver for RF bands from 698 to 915MHz with high or low side injection. Nominally, the device offers +43dBm output IP3 with 330mA of Icc. Alternately one can adjust 4 resistor values and a toggle pin to run the devices in low current mode (LCmode) with +36dBm output IP3 and 235mA of Icc. For standard mode, open the LCmode jumper in conjunction with positioning the 4 dual jumpers to select the resistors in red (refer to schematic diagram). For low current mode, close the LCmode jumper in conjunction with positioning the 4 dual jumpers to select the resistors in blue (refer to schematic diagram). The device can be powered through a 5V supply. It also has its RF input channels internally matched to 50Ω.

The F1102 has a zero-distortion technology that improves the maximum IM3 interference that the base station can withstand at a desired Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR). This allows higher RF gain that improves sensitivity.