| Abstract: | This paper presents a wideband variable gain amplifier (VGA) featuring a decibel-linear gain control characteristic. The decibel-linear gain control function is realized using two VGA cells and a control signal converter. The bandwidth is extended using cascode architecture together with active inductive load. To achieve small parasitic and low area, direct current (DC) coupling is adopted in the circuit while a DC offset cancellation circuit (DCOC) is introduced to cancel the DC offset. Fabricated in a 0.18 μm complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process, the chip occupies an area of 0.53 mm × 0.48 mm (including pads) and draws a total current of 9 mA from a 1.8 V supply. The measurement results show that the gain of the VGA varies from -40 dB to 18 dB while the control voltage varies from 0 to 1.8 V, resulting in a total gain control range of 58 dB. The 3 dB bandwidth of the VGA is larger than 260 MHz at maximum gain. |
