A broadband high-dynamic-range voltage-controlled attenuator MMIC with an IIP3 > +47 dBm over entire 30-dB analog control range

Summary form only given, as follows. In this paper we introduce a novel design technique for broadband high dynamic range absorptive voltage controlled attenuators (VCA) on SOI CMOS. The VCA design is based on the classical passive FET ‘Pi’ and ‘Tee’ attenuator structures but uses stacked FET techniques to dramatically improve the signal handling capability. The VCA has 30 dB attenuation range over a frequency range from DC to 5GHz and achieves an IIP3 of greater than +47 dBm over the entire analog control range.