Charge pump circuit
AssigneeCirrus Logic International Semiconductor Ltd.
InventorsJohn P. Lesso, Peter J. Frith, John L. Pennock
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A bipolar output charge pump circuit having a network of switching paths for selectively connecting an input node and a reference node for connection to an input voltage, a first pair of output nodes, two pairs of flying capacitor nodes, and a controller for controlling the switching of the network of switching paths. The controller is operable to control the network of switching paths when in use with two flying capacitors connected to the two pairs of flying capacitor nodes, to provide a first mode and a second mode when in use with two flying capacitors connected to the flying capacitor nodes, wherein at least the first mode corresponds to a bipolar output voltage of +/−3 VV, +/−VV/5 or +/−VV/6.
Claims20
A charge pump circuit operable to output a bipolar output voltage, comprising:
- at least one input node for connection to an input voltage;
- a first output node and a second output node configured to output the bipolar output voltage;
- flying capacitor nodes for connection to a plurality of flying capacitor nodes;
- a network of switching paths for interconnecting said nodes;
- and
- a switch controller operable to control the network of switching paths, when in use with two flying capacitors connected to the flying capacitor nodes and with first and second reservoir capacitors connected to the first and second output nodes respectively, to repeatedly charge the first and second reservoir capacitors to provide a bipolar output voltage,
- wherein the switch controller is operable in three different operating modes, said operating modes comprising:
- a first mode where the bipolar output voltage is +/−VV;
- a second mode where the bipolar output voltage is +/−VV/2;
- and
- a third mode where the bipolar output voltage is +/−VV/3;
- wherein VV is the input voltage.
A charge pump circuit comprising:
- an input node for receiving an input voltage with respect to a reference voltage;
- first and second output nodes for outputting first and second output voltages of equal and opposite magnitude with respect to the reference voltage;
- flying capacitor nodes for connecting to at least first and second flying capacitors;
- a network of switching paths for interconnecting said nodes;
- and
- a switch controller operable to control the network of switching paths, when in use with said first and second flying capacitors connected to the flying capacitor nodes, to generate the first and second output voltages, wherein the switch controller is operable so that the first and second output voltages can be selectively controlled to have a magnitude equal to any of:
- the same magnitude as the input voltage;
- half the magnitude of the input voltage;
- a third of the magnitude of the input voltage;
- wherein the switch network comprises at least a first switch formed on a first region of semiconductor substrate where the first region is isolated from the rest of the substrate by one or more n-well regions.
A charge pump circuit for receiving an input voltage and outputting a bipolar output voltage, the charge pump circuit comprising:
- flying capacitor nodes for connection to two flying capacitors;
- a switch network comprising a plurality of switches;
- a switch controller for selectively controlling said switches in a sequence of switch states to generate the bipolar output voltage;
- wherein the charge pump circuit is selectively operable in three different modes in which the bipolar output voltage is respectively +/−VV, +/−VV/2 and +/−VV/3, where +/−VV is the input voltage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.