Voltage detection circuit and internal voltage generating circuit comprising it

Abstract

An internal voltage generation circuit and a voltage detection circuit for stably generating an internal voltage at a desired voltage level are provided. The voltage detection circuit includes an insulated gate field effect transistor receiving a reference voltage at a gate thereof and a voltage dropping element group connected in series between the insulated gate field effect transistor and an internal node. The reference voltage is generated by resistance-dividing a power supply voltage including a voltage drop and a threshold voltage of the insulated gate field effect transistor as its voltage components. When a voltage difference between the reference voltage and the internal voltage attains at least a prescribed value, a current flows through the voltage dropping element group and the insulated gate field effect transistor, and a voltage of a detection node decreases, and a lowering in the internal voltage is detected. The reference voltage includes, as its component, the threshold voltage of the transistor and the voltage drop across the voltage dropping element group, and the variation in these parameters is cancelled to set the resistance-division node at a desired voltage level.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.