A CMOS linear-in-dB high-linearity variable-gain amplifier for UWB receivers

Abstract

This paper presents a CMOS linear-in-dB variable gain amplifier (VGA) that provides a variable gain range over 90 dB with 3 dB bandwidth greater than 400 MHz at 54 dB gain. The maximum output 1 dB compression point is 9 dBm. Maximum gain error is +/-2 dB. It consumes total 22 mW with 1.8 V supply, including control circuit. This VGA is fabricated in TSMC 0.18 um CMOS process and demonstrate the performance of the proposed dB-linear VGA.