Patent ID: 7714658

Claim:
A variable-gain amplifier (VGA), comprising: a plurality of attenuator nodes serially connected via a first set of resistors between adjacent attenuator nodes to form an attenuator ladder and coupled to an AC input of the variable-gain amplifier, wherein each of the attenuator nodes comprises a transistor and an RC circuitry that couples a drain, a gate, and a source terminals of the transistor to a control signal for the attenuator node; and an amplifier having an output produced based on an input to the amplifier connected to a plurality of coupled terminals, each of which is respectively from one of the plurality of attenuator nodes, wherein the RC circuitry for each attenuator node is configured to pass a control signal to the gate terminal of the transistor of the attenuator node in accordance with a first time scale and permit the gate terminal to float in accordance with a second time scale so as to yield a reduction of distortion contributed by the transistor while the transistor is transitioning between on and off states.