Patent ID: 8478219

Claim:
A down-conversion module for a heterodyne receiver comprising a first mixer circuit, a second mixer circuit and an interconnection, said first mixer circuit including first differential control terminals and second differential control terminals and being arranged to produce a first down-converted differential voltage signal at a first down-converted frequency as a function of a first RF differential input signal applied to said first differential control terminals and of a first RF differential reference frequency signal applied to said second differential control terminals, and said second mixer circuit including two differential pairs of second amplifier elements, said second amplifier elements comprising second differential control terminals and cross-connected pairs of second amplifier output paths for producing a second down-converted differential voltage signal at a second down-converted frequency as a function of said first down-converted differential voltage signal and of a second RF differential reference frequency signal applied to said second differential control terminals, wherein said interconnection includes transmission line elements and is arranged to apply a differential current signal which is a function of said first down-converted differential voltage signal to differential input terminals of said second mixer circuit common to respective pairs of said second amplifier elements.