Patent ID: 7035617

Claim:
A block-up converter comprising: a subharmonic mixer; wherein said subharmonic mixer is configured to receive a first input signal, wherein said first input signal is an intermediate frequency signal; wherein said subharmonic mixer is further configured to receive a second input signal, wherein said second input signal is a local oscillator signal in the Ku band or lower, wherein said subharmonic mixer is configured to output a RF signal having a frequency greater than 26 GHz; a filter configured to receive said RF signal and filter unwanted spurious signals which may be present in said RF signal; and a power amplification device configured to receive said RF signal and to provide a desired signal gain; wherein said subharmonic mixer, said filter, and said amplification device are located on a single multi-chip module, such that all signal interfaces with said multi-chip module occur at frequencies less than 26 GHz except for the final output of said RF signal from said multi-chip module; wherein said multi-chip module is configured to be surface mounted using a lead frame interface; wherein said block-up converter is configured to be a high power block-up converter, wherein high power is defined to be any power greater than 1 Wart; and wherein said block-up converter is configured to provide a high frequency output, wherein high frequency is defined to be any frequency greater than 26 GHz.