Charge pump circuits and methods for the same
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorSeung-Won Lee
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A charge pump circuit may include a plurality of charge pump cells. Each charge pump cell may further include an output node for supplying charge, a pumping node for receiving a clock signal and a pumping capacitor, which may be connected between the output node and the pumping node, for storing the charge and may repeat a charge or discharge operation and/or a pre-charge operation in response to a plurality of clock signals. In the pre-charge operation, a unidirectional charge supply may be performed from a lower voltage output node to a higher voltage output node.
Claims24
A charge pump circuit including a plurality of charge pump cells, each of the plurality of charge pump cells comprising:
- a first output node for transferring charge;
- a first pumping node for receiving a clock signal;
- and
- a capacitor connected between the first output node and the first pumping node, for storing the charge, and repeating a charge, discharge or pre-charge operation in response to a plurality of clock signals;
- wherein
- the pre-charge operation includes a unidirectional charge transfer performed from the first output node to a second output node, the second output node having a higher voltage than the first output node.
A method comprising:
- activating a connection between a first pumping node in a first charge pump cell and a second pumping node in a second charge pump cell in response to a pre-charge enable clock signal;
- varying the voltage of a first output node by charging a first pumping capacitor using charge transferred through the first pumping node;
- activating a connection between a first output node in the first charge pump cell and a first output node in the second charge pump cell when the first and second output nodes have equal voltages;
- and
- transferring the charge through the first and second output nodes.
The method of claim 17, further including,
- disabling the pre-charge enable signal, and
- charging or discharging the pumping capacitor in response to the pumping clock signal.
A charge pump cell for use in a charge pump circuit, the charge pump cell comprising:
- a first output node for transferring charge;
- a first pumping node for receiving a clock signal;
- and
- a capacitor connected between the first output node and the first pumping node, for storing the charge, and repeating a charge, discharge or pre-charge operation in response to a plurality of clock signals;
- wherein
- the pre-charge operation includes a unidirectional charge transfer performed from the first output node to a second output node, the second output node having a higher voltage than the first output node.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.