Voltage booster circuit

A voltage booster circuit comprising:

• a plurality of pumping circuits, each of said plurality of pumping circuits connected in parallel between a power supply and an output terminal for supplying a higher voltage than said power supply, and driven by a pair of complementary pumping clocks;
• means for generating pump activating signals determining a number of activated pumping circuits of said plurality of pumping circuits according to a comparison of a potential of said output terminal with at least two distinct reference voltages;
• and
• switching means for supplying said pair of complementary pumping clocks to each of said number of activated pumping circuits controlled with said pump activating signals.

A voltage booster circuit comprising:

• a plurality of pumping circuits, each of said plurality of pumping circuits connected in parallel between a power supply and an output terminal for supplying a higher voltage than said power supply, and driven by a pair of complementary pumping clocks;
• means for generating pump activating signals determining a number of activated pumping circuits of said plurality of pumping circuits according to a potential of said output terminal;
• and
• switching means for supplying said pair of complementary pumping clocks to each of said number of activated pumping circuits controlled with said pump activating signals,
• wherein said means for generating pump activating signals includes
• a reference voltage generator for generating reference voltages, each of said reference voltages corresponding to a respective one of said plurality of pumping circuits,
• a voltage divider for generating an output level signal proportional to the potential of said output terminal, and
• differential amplifiers, each of said differential amplifiers corresponding to a respective one of said reference voltages and generating a respective one of said pump activating signals, each differential amplifier having a logic level according to a potential difference between said output level signal and a corresponding one of said reference voltages.

A voltage booster circuit comprising:

• plurality of pumping circuits, each of said plurality of pumping circuits connected in parallel between a power supply and an output terminal for supplying a higher voltage than said power supply, and driven by a pair of complementary pumping clocks;
• means for generating pump activating signals determining a number of activated pumping circuits of said plurality of pumping circuits according to a potential of said output terminal;
• and
• switching means for supplying said pair of complementary pumping clocks to each of said number of activated pumping circuits controlled with said pump activating signals,
• wherein said switching means includes switching circuits, each of said switching circuits corresponding to and supplying said pair of complementary pumping clocks to a respective one of said plurality of pumping circuits according to a logic level of a corresponding one of said pump activating signals.

A voltage booster circuit comprising:

• a plurality of pumping circuits, each of said plurality of pumping circuits connected in parallel between a power supply and an output terminal for supplying a higher voltage than said power supply, and driven by a pair of complementary pumping clocks;
• a reference voltage generator for generating reference voltages, each of said reference voltages corresponding to a respective one of said plurality of pumping circuits;
• a voltage divider for generating an output level signal proportional to a potential of said output terminal;
• a plurality of differential amplifiers, each of said plurality of differential amplifiers corresponding to a respective one of said reference voltages and generating a respective one of a plurality of pump activating signals that determines a number of activated pumping circuits of said plurality of pumping circuits, wherein each differential amplifier has logic according to a potential difference between said output level signal and a corresponding one of said reference voltages;
• and
• a plurality of switching circuits, each of said plurality of switching circuits corresponding to and supplying said pair of complementary pumping clocks to a respective one of said plurality of pumping circuits according to the logic of a respective one of said pump activating signals.