A $2.1{\sim}2.5\;GHz$ variable gain LNA with a shunt feed-back

A variable gain low noise amplifier (VG-LNA) implemented in TSMC 0.18 um process is presented. This VG-LNA is designed of two stage amplifier, and its gain is controlled by the shunt feedback loop composed of a gain control transistor (GCT) and a coupling capacitor in second stage. The channel resistance of GCT in the shunt feedback loop influences the input and output stages of a second stage by the Miller effect. Total gain of the proposed VG-LNA is changed by two factors, the load impedance reduction and the interstage mismatch by controlling the channel resistance of the GCT. Consequently, by adding a shunt feedback with a gain control transistor, this proposed VG-LNA achieves both wide gain tuning range of 37 dB and continuous gain control simultaneously.