A 250MHz Programmable Gain Amplifier for low power UWB receivers

A power-optimized Programmable Gain Amplifier (PGA) for low power UWB receivers is presented. The PGA consists of a buffer and three gain cells which have additional input stages in parallel. By enhancing the current in additional input stage which is applied in programmed gain level, larger gain is acquired and the area cost is reduced theoretically at the same time. The PGA is programmable in the 0-40dB range with 5dB step and its 3dB bandwidth is greater than 250MHz. The current consumption (1.9mA at 0dB gain up to 2.5mA at 40dB gain) is optimized according to the selected gain level.