A 78 dB dynamic range, 0.27 dB accuracy, single-stage RF-PGA using thermometer-weighted and binary-weighted transconductors for SAW-less WCDMA/LTE transmitters

A single-stage RF programmable gain amplifier (RF-PGA) in 65-nm CMOS is presented. The RF-PGA consists of thermometer-weighted transconductors and binary-weighted transconductors with an R-2R ladder. The transmitter prototype with the single-stage RF-PGA achieves 78 dB dynamic range, 0.27 dB accuracy in 1dB step at 1950 MHz. The measured transmitter noise in RX band is -160.4 dBc/Hz. The ACLR and EVM with LTE modulated signal (BW=20 MHz) are -40 dBc and 3.4%, respectively.