Cascaded high-gain distributed amplifier configuration for enhanced gain-bandwidth product

Abstract

An improved distributed amplifier configuration based on a cascade of high-gain distributed amplifiers is introduced and investigated in this paper. The cascaded high-gain amplifier offers a multiplicative gain characteristic against the number of stages N and thus gain-bandwidth enhancement. The cascade connection also enables the use of the tapered drain line technique with no idle termination for further gain improvement. Verification is provided through simulation using a 0.18 μm RF CMOS process.