Low-noise, low-distortion Gilbert current gain-cell and Gilbert cell transconductor

Techniques employed to reduce the parasitic emitter resistance effect in the Gilbert current gain-cell and improve gain-cell linearity and noise performance are presented. The technique is further developed to improve linearity and noise performance of the Gilbert cell transconductor (GCT). The deliberate addition of large resistors to the gain-cell will reduce dominant noise contributions from transistors within the gain-cell. The improvement in linearity of the transconductor is achieved by using a transconductance summation technique to give an overall flatter g/sub m/ response.