A 160-MHz bipolar wide-band IF amplifier

Wide-band intermediate-frequency (IF) amplifiers are needed when the data rates of communication systems increase. A single wide-band IF amplifier can also be used for a radio band with several narrow-band channels of varying strengths. High linearity is then required if intermodulation products are not to disturb weak channels. We have previously reported a highly linear wide-band IF amplifier in a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor process. Using a similar topology, an npn-only bipolar amplifier with even higher linearity is now presented. The amplifier is fully differential and operates with a 5 V supply, At 20 MHz, 5 V/sub pp/ over a 1 k/spl Omega/ load, the measured total harmonic distortion is just 9.068%.