Patent ID: 7991368
Filing Date: 2011-08-02
Classification: H03D

Abstract:
1. A frequency conversion apparatus, comprising: a frequency generation circuit, which is based on a first semiconductor material having a first elemental composition and is coupled to generate one or more Local Oscillator (LO) signals; and a conversion circuit, which is based on a second semiconductor material having a second elemental composition different from the first elemental composition, wherein the conversion circuit is coupled to accept an input signal in a first frequency range and to convert the input signal to an output signal in a second frequency range by mixing the input signal with the one or more LO signals, wherein the conversion circuit comprises at least one Image-Reject Mixing (IRM) module, which comprises first and second mixers and is coupled to mix the input signal with the one or more LO signals using the first and second mixers, wherein the first frequency range is partitioned into multiple sub-bands, and wherein the at least one IRM module comprises multiple IRM modules assigned to the respective sub-bands, such that each IRM module is coupled to mix the input signal with one of the LO signals when a frequency of the input signal is in the respective sub-band.