Patent ID: 8868021

Claim:
A system comprising a passive uniplanar single-balanced millimeter-wave mixer comprising: a metallic mixer housing comprising a first compartment and a second compartment, a dielectric substrate positioned in the first compartment configured to support a first coplanar waveguide, a coplanar-to-slotline transition, a slotline balun, and a second coplanar waveguide electrically connected to feed RF, LO, and IF electrical signals to and from a single-balanced mixer core structure; wherein the first coplanar waveguide is coupled to a first port at a first end and is configured to convey the RF signal to the coplanar-to-slotline transition which is electrically coupled to a second end of the first coplanar waveguide; wherein the coplanar-to-slotline transition is configured to convert the RF signal from an unbalanced common mode into a balanced slotline mode by terminating a first slot of the first coplanar waveguide into a slotline open termination which electrically separates a first and a second metal conductor of opposite electrical polarity forming the slotline balun, wherein a second slot of the first coplanar waveguide terminates into the slotline balun; wherein the first metal conductor of the slotline balun is electrically coupled to a second ground strip metal conductor of the first coplanar waveguide, and wherein the second metal conductor of the slotline balun is electrically coupled to a signal conductor of the first coplanar waveguide; wherein the second coplanar waveguide is coupled to a second port, wherein the second port comprises a broadband coaxial interface; wherein the single-balanced mixer core structure comprises a three-port diode-tee; wherein the distance between the single-balanced mixer core structure and a back-short circuit for RF signal is optimized such that a mixer conversion efficiency over a very wide operational bandwidth is improved.