Low power digitally variable gain amplifier techniques based on SiGe BiCMOS technology

This paper presents the proposed silicon proven design techniques and the performance tradeoffs in the generic digitally variable gain amplifier (DVGA) designs. Two example designs were fabricated in a SiGe BiCMOS technology incorporating these design techniques and measured with good performance. Both the proposed designs, with low power consumption and compact size, are adapted in RF chipset with good interface capability between the RF front-end and the baseband chipsets.