A novel programmable gain amplifier（ PGA） based on a signal-summing topology is proposed. Different from conventional signal-summing variable gain amplifiers（ VGA）,a binary-weighted switching technique is employed to vary the current-steering transistors＇ aspect ratio to change their transconductance, and hence, an accurate gain step size of 6dB is achieved. The constant-g_m biasing technique and the matching of the transistors and resistors ensures that the gain of the proposed topology is independent of the variation of process, voltage and temperature（ PVT）. P-well NMOS（ Nmetal oxide semiconductor） transistors are utilized to eliminate the influence of back-gate effect which will induce gain error.The source-degeneration technique ensures good linearity performance at a low gain. The proposed PGA is fabricated in a0.18 μm CMOS（ complementary metal oxide semiconductor）process. The measurement results show a variable gain ranging from 0 to24 dB with a step size of 6 dB and a maximum gain error of 0. 3dB. A constant 3dB bandwidth of 210 MHz is achieved at different gain settings. The measured output 3rd intercept point（OIP3） and minimum noise figure（ NF） are20. 9 dBm and 11.1 dB, respectively. The whole PGA has a compact layout of 0.068 mm^2. The total power consumption is4. 8 mW under a 1. 8 V supply voltage.
