We report on a GaAs HBT 3-stage variable gain amplifier operating over
a 0.75-5 GHz frequency band. The amplifier is broken up into a single
-ended HBT LNA pre-amplifier, an analog current steering differential
cascode cell for variable gain control, and a differential amplifier o
utput stage, The broadband pre-amplifier is required to reduce the inh
erently noisy differential cascode stage, and an output differential a
mplifier is used to provide output drive capability and differential t
o single-ended conversion. The VGA has a maximum gain of 23.8 dB gain,
an IP3 > 18 dBm, and a noise figure of 6.5 dB. The variable gain cont
rol range is >35 dB. This chip demonstrates the versatility of HBT IC
technology which can integrate digital, analog, and microwave circuit
functions to achieve high performance in a single monolithic chip.