These two new low-power, high-performance RF active mixers are ideal for wireless infrastructure transceiver and portable radio applications. The LT5525 and LT5526 consume only half the power of other high-performance mixers while delivering excellent linearity to meet the requirements of cellular and wireless repeaters, pico-base stations, point-to-point wireless links, and mobile radios.

The LT5526 features an input third-order intercept (IIP3) of 16.5 dBm at 900 MHz and a noise figure of 11 dB. This performance is complemented by a conversion gain of 0.6 dB. Moreover, the LT5526 requires only –5-dBm local oscillator (LO) drive, and its port-to-port LO leakage is exceptionally low at –65 dBm, reducing external filtering requirements. The LT5526 has fully differential inputs and outputs, and it operates over a wide bandwidth ranging from 100 kHz to 2 GHz. The device can be used as either a down-converting mixer or an up-converting mixer in many applications.

The LT5525 features an on-chip RF input transformer and offers internal 50-W impedance matching at both the RF and the LO inputs. These inputs can be driven single-ended without external impedance matching components, thus facilitating ease of use and reducing costs. The LT5525’s IIP3 is 21 dBm IIP3 at 900 MHz and 17.6 dBm at 1.9 GHz. At 900 MHz, the noise figure is 14 dB and the conversion gain is 2.6 dB. The LT5525 requires only –5-dBm LO drive and offers high port-to-port isolation.

Both the LT5525 and LT5526 operate from a single supply voltage, ranging from 3.6 to 5.3 V. The typical operating current is 28 mA. The devices can operate at a supply voltage as low as 3 V with reduced linearity performance. The LT5526 costs $3.40. The LT5525 costs $3.80 in 1,000-piece quantities.

Linear Technology Corp.
www.linear.com