In this paper, a 40 M-1000 MHz 77.2-dB spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) CMOS RF variable gain amplifier (VGA) has been presented for digital TV tuner applications. The proposed RFVGA adopts a wideband operational-amplifier-based VGA and a wideband buffer with differential multiple gated transistor linearization method for wideband operation and high linearity. The SFDR of the proposed RFVGA is also analyzed in detail. Fabricated in a 0.13-mu m CMOS process, the RFVGA provides 31-dB gain range with 1-dB gain step, a minimum noise figure of 7.5 dB at a maximum gain of 27 dB, and maximum in-band output-referred third-order intercept point of 27.7 dBm, while drawing an average current of 27.8 mA with a supply voltage of 3.3 V. The chip core area is 0.54mmx0.4mm. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.