Internal supply voltage circuit of an integrated circuit
AssigneeSTMicroelectronics (Rousset) SAS
InventorFrancesco La Rosa
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The disclosure relates to a method for generating a setpoint voltage in an integrated circuit, comprising generating a substantially constant reference voltage, and generating from the reference voltage, a setpoint voltage comprising a component equal to the highest threshold voltage of all the CMOS transistors of a circuit of the integrated circuit and a component which may be equal to zero. The disclosure applies in particular to the provision of a power supply voltage of a circuit based on CMOS transistors.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- generating a substantially constant reference voltage;
- and
- generating from the reference voltage, a setpoint voltage in an integrated circuit, including a first component equal to a highest threshold voltage of all CMOS transistors of a circuit of the integrated circuit and a second component based on the reference voltage.
A setpoint generation circuit, comprising:
- an input configured to receive a reference voltage;
- a current source coupled to the input and configured to generate a substantially constant reference current;
- and
- a detection circuit coupled to the current source and configured to receive the reference current, the detection circuit having a first transistor and a second transistor, the detection circuit being configured to generate a setpoint voltage based upon a first threshold voltage of the first transistor and upon a second threshold voltage of the second transistor.
An internal power supply circuit of an integrated circuit, comprising:
- a setpoint generation circuit, having:
- an input configured to receive a reference voltage,
- a current source coupled to the input and configured to generate a substantially constant reference current, and
- a detection circuit coupled to the current source and configured to receive the reference current, the detection circuit having a first transistor and a second transistor, the detection circuit being configured to generate a setpoint voltage based upon a first threshold voltage of the first transistor and upon a second threshold voltage of the second transistor;
- and
- a supply voltage generation circuit coupled to the setpoint generation circuit and configured to receive the setpoint voltage from the setpoint generation circuit, the supply voltage generation circuit configured to generate an internal power supply voltage of the integrated circuit from the setpoint voltage.
An integrated circuit, comprising:
- a setpoint generation circuit, having:
- an input configured to receive a reference voltage,
- a current source coupled to the input and configured to generate a substantially constant reference current, and
- a detection circuit coupled to the current source and configured to receive the reference current, the detection circuit having a first transistor and a second transistor, the detection circuit being configured to generate a setpoint voltage based upon a first threshold voltage of the first transistor and upon a second threshold voltage of the second transistor;
- and
- a supply voltage generation circuit coupled to the setpoint generation circuit and configured to receive the setpoint voltage from the setpoint generation circuit, the supply voltage generation circuit configured to generate an internal power supply voltage of the integrated circuit from the setpoint voltage;
- and
- a logic circuit coupled to the supply voltage generation circuit and configured to receive the internal power supply voltage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.