Charge pump device
AssigneeSTMicroelectronics International N.V.
InventorXavier Branca
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A device includes charge pumps, wherein each charge pump has an input receiving an input voltage, another input receiving a periodic control signal and an output delivering an output voltage. Each charge pump is selectively enabled or disabled. A first circuit delivers an error signal based on a difference between the output voltage and a reference voltage. A second circuit changes an operating parameter of the charge pumps on the basis of the error signal. A third circuit compares a current value of the operating parameter with two thresholds and, based on the result of the threshold comparisons, controls one of an increase in, a decrease in, and a retention of a number of enabled charge pumps.
Claims21
A device, comprising:
- a plurality of charge pumps wherein each charge pump has a first input connected to a first node configured to receive an input voltage, a second input configured to receive a periodic control signal for controlling the switching into the charge pumps and an output connected to a second node configured to deliver an output voltage, and wherein each charge pump is configured to be selectively enabled or disabled;
- a first circuit configured to deliver a signal indicating an offset between the output voltage and a reference voltage;
- a second circuit configured to change an operating parameter of said charge pumps on the basis of said signal;
- and
- a third circuit configured to compare a current value of said operating parameter with a first threshold and with a second threshold, and, based on the result of the comparisons, to control one among an increase in a number of enabled charge pumps, a decrease in the number of enabled charge pumps, and a retention of the number of enabled charge pumps;
- wherein said operating parameter comprises a frequency of the control signal applied to all charge pumps of the plurality of charge pumps.
A device, comprising:
- a plurality of charge pumps wherein each charge pump has a first input connected to a first node configured to receive an input voltage, a second input configured to receive a periodic control signal for controlling the switching into the charge pumps and an output connected to a second node configured to deliver an output voltage, and wherein each charge pump is configured to be selectively enabled or disabled;
- a first circuit configured to deliver a signal indicating an offset between the output voltage and a reference voltage;
- a second circuit configured to change an operating parameter of said charge pumps on the basis of said signal;
- and
- a third circuit configured to compare a current value of said operating parameter with a first threshold and with a second threshold, and, based on the result of the comparisons, to control one among an increase in a number of enabled charge pumps, a decrease in the number of enabled charge pumps, and a retention of the number of enabled charge pumps;
- wherein said operating parameter comprises a threshold of MOS transistors configured to implement switching in each of the charge pumps.
A device, comprising:
- a plurality of charge pumps wherein each charge pump has a first input connected to a first node configured to receive an input voltage, a second input configured to receive a periodic control signal for controlling the switching into the charge pumps and an output connected to a second node configured to deliver an output voltage, and wherein each charge pump is configured to be selectively enabled or disabled;
- a first circuit configured to deliver a signal indicating an offset between the output voltage and a reference voltage;
- a second circuit configured to change an operating parameter of said charge pumps on the basis of said signal;
- and
- a third circuit configured to compare a current value of said operating parameter with a first threshold and with a second threshold, and, based on the result of the comparisons, to control one among an increase in a number of enabled charge pumps, a decrease in the number of enabled charge pumps, and a retention of the number of enabled charge pumps;
- wherein said operating parameter comprises a gate-source voltage level of MOS transistors configured to implement switching in each of the charge pumps.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.