US Patent 7679452 Amplifier arrangement and method

An amplifier arrangement having a transistor arrangement comprising a first transistor (1) in common-emitter configuration and a second transistor (2) in common-base configuration. A switching device (7) couples, in a first mode of operation, the first transistor (1) to an input (3) of the amplifier arrangement and while the second transistor (2) forms a cascade stage. In a second mode of operation the second transistor (2) is coupled to the input (3). While high gain is achieved during the first mode, the second mode allows for high linearity without requiring inductive degeneration.