A 2.16 mW Low Power Digitally-Controlled Variable Gain Amplifier

Abstract

A low power digitally-controlled CMOS variable gain amplifier (VGA) was fabricated in a TSMC 0.18 mu m CMOS technology. By extending the transconductor operation range from saturation mode for high gain to triode mode for low gain, the proposed VGA can obtain a wide gain range with low power dissipation. The power consumption of the proposed VGA is as small as 2.16 mW while keeping a wide gain range of 53 dB. The proposed VGA has a controlled gain from -22 dB to 31 dB with 1 dB steps. When the proposed VGA was set to a maximum gain, the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) and the 3 dB bandwidth are -48 dB and at least 65 MHz, respectively.