Low-voltage booster circuits and methods of operation thereof
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorJae-Yoon Sim
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A voltage booster circuit includes first and second capacitors and a switch circuit coupled to the first and second capacitors and operative to apply a power supply across the first and second capacitors in series responsive to a first signal to thereby charge the first and second capacitors and to couple the first and second capacitors in parallel between an output terminal and a power supply node of the power supply responsive to deassertion of the first signal and assertion of a second signal to thereby boost a voltage at the output terminal. The first and second signals may be alternately asserted in a succession of time periods, e.g., the first and second signals may be asserted in respective non-overlapping time periods.
Claims8
A voltage booster circuit, comprising:
- first and second capacitors;
- a switch circuit coupled to the first and second capacitors and operative to apply a power supply across the first and second capacitors in series responsive to a first signal to thereby charge the first and second capacitors and to couple the first and second capacitors in parallel between an output terminal and a power supply node of the power supply responsive to deassertion of the first signal and assertion of a second signal to thereby boost a voltage at the output terminal;
- and
- a third capacitor having a first terminal configured to receive the first signal;
- wherein the first capacitor has a first terminal configured to receive the second signal;
- and
- wherein the switch circuit comprises:
- a first transistor having a current path that is coupled between a second terminal of the first capacitor and a first terminal of the second capacitor and that is controlled responsive to the first signal;
- a second transistor having a current path that is coupled between the second terminal of the first capacitor and the output terminal and that is controlled responsive to the second signal;
- a third transistor having a current path that is coupled between a second terminal of the second capacitor and the output terminal and that is controlled responsive to the second signal;
- a fourth transistor having a current path that is coupled between the second terminal of the second capacitor and the power supply node and that is controlled responsive to the first signal;
- a fifth transistor having a current path that is coupled between a second terminal of the third capacitor and the power supply node and that is controlled responsive to a voltage at the second terminal of the first capacitor;
- and
- a sixth transistor having a current path that is coupled between the first terminal of the second capacitor and the power supply node and that is controlled responsive to a third signal that is a logical complement of the second signal.
A booster circuit comprising:
- a first capacitor that has a first terminal supplied with a first oscillating signal and a second terminal coupled to a first node;
- a first switch that is coupled between the first node and a second node and is controlled by a second oscillating signal;
- a second capacitor that has a first terminal coupled to the second node and a second terminal coupled to a third node;
- a second switch that is coupled between a power supply node and the third node and is controlled by the second oscillating signal;
- a third switch that is coupled between the power supply node and the second node and is controlled by a complementary signal of the first oscillating signal;
- a fourth switch which is coupled between the first node and an output terminal and is controlled by the first oscillating signal;
- and
- a fifth switch that is coupled between the third node and the output terminal and is controlled by the first oscillating signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.