Pre-charge technique for improved charge pump efficiency

A method of operating a charge pump for a data storage system, the charge pump including a first multiplier stage including a first capacitor in series with an input node of the charge pump, a second multiplier stage including a second capacitor in series with the first capacitor, a final multiplier stage including an output capacitor in series with the second capacitor and an output node of the charge pump;

• a charge clock and a kick clock inverted with respect to each other;
• and pre-charge circuitry;
• the method comprising:
• at the pre-charge circuitry:
• charging the output capacitor to a first level during an initial phase of a charging operation, wherein the first level is equal to a supply voltage of the data storage system;
• and
• decoupling a charging path of the pre-charge circuitry from the output capacitor in response to the output capacitor being charged to the first level;
• and
• at the first and second multiplier stages:
• increasing the charge of the output capacitor to a second level higher than the first level during a second phase of the charging operation using the supply voltage of the data storage system and the second capacitor, wherein the second phase of the charging operation is configured to execute subsequent to the charge clock transitioning low and prior to the kick clock transitioning high;
• and
• increasing the charge of the output capacitor to a third level higher than the second level during a third phase of the charging operation using the supply voltage of the data storage system and the first and second capacitors.

A charge pump for a data storage system, comprising:

• a first multiplier stage including a first capacitor in series with an input node of the charge pump;
• a second multiplier stage including a second capacitor in series with the first capacitor;
• a final multiplier stage including an output capacitor in series with the second capacitor and an output node of the charge pump;
• a charge clock and a kick clock inverted with respect to each other;
• and
• pre-charge circuitry including:
• means for charging the output capacitor to a first level during an initial phase of a charging operation, wherein the first level is equal to a supply voltage of the data storage system;
• and
• means for decoupling a charging path of the pre-charge circuitry from the output capacitor in response to the output capacitor being charged to the first level;
• wherein the first and second multiplier stages include:
• means for increasing the charge of the output capacitor to a second level higher than the first level during a second phase of the charging operation using the supply voltage of the data storage system and the second capacitor, wherein the second phase of the charging operation is configured to execute subsequent to the charge clock transitioning low and prior to the kick clock transitioning high;
• and
• means for increasing the charge of the output capacitor to a third level higher than the second level during a third phase of the charging operation using the supply voltage of the data storage system and the first and second capacitors.