A Wideband Variable Gain Amplifier using 0.13m CMOS Technology

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Electronics and Communications, Arab Academy for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Egypt

Abstract

A wideband variable gain amplifier (VGA) design is introduced with two different schemes. It is based on a fully differential amplifier with resistive loads and a Negative Miller Capacitance technique is used to increase the bandwidth of the amplifier. The amplifier consists of three stages and the gain is varied using the second and third stages, where they are degenerated by a voltage controlled variable resistance. The design is ready to be implemented with MOSFETs using UMC 0.13mm technology. The supply voltage is 1.2V, and achieved gain is up to 35 dB with a minimum bandwidth of 1 GHz. Two design schemes are discussed, describing the tradeoff between the dynamic range of the variable gain and the bandwidth.

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