Fundamental gain-bandwidth limitations are derived in this paper for parametric amplifiers using varactors. These limitations are fundamental in that they are independent of the associated circuitry. For a single varactor parametric amplifier with ideal flat response, the optimum gain-bandwidth limitation is derived as

, where

is the maximum flat transducer power gain,

is the equivalent low-pass bandwidth,

and

are the respective signal and idler band-center frequencies, and

and

denote the first two coefficients of a linear variable capacitor. Explicit formulas are presented for the design of modified Butterworth and Chebyshev characteristics of arbitrary orders and it is shown that both approach the ideal flat response over the prescribed band as the order is increased. When the series parasitic inductance

of the varactor is considered, there is an additional limitation given by
![G_{T\\max } = \\cosh ^2[frac{\\pi\\sqrt {\\omega _{s0}\\omega _{i0}} C_{1}(3C_{0} - \\omega _{s0}\\omega _{i0}C_{1}^{2}L} {\\omega _{c}^{3}LC_{0}^{3}}]](/images/tex/11500.gif)
.