Low-voltage bulk-driven variable gain amplifier in 130 nm CMOS technology

In this paper, a variable gain amplifier designed in 130 nm CMOS technology is presented. The proposed amplifier is based on the bulk-driven approach, which brings a possibility to operate with low supply voltage (i.e. 0.6 V). Since the supply voltage of only 0.6 V is used for the amplifier to operate, there is no latchup risk that usually represents the main drawback of the bulk-driven approach. As an input stage, bulk driven transistors are used, which makes possible to operate in the rail-to-rail input voltage range. Achieved simulation results indicate that gain of the proposed VGA can be varied in a wide range, which together with the low supply voltage feature make the proposed amplifier useful for low-voltage and low-power applications.