Voltage boost system, IC and design structure
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsJeffrey H. Dreibelbis, John A. Fifield
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A voltage boost system, IC and design structure are disclosed for boosting a supply voltage while preventing forward biasing of n-well structures. The voltage boost system may include a first voltage boost circuit producing a first boosted voltage using at least one voltage boost sub-circuit, each of the at least one voltage boost sub-circuit having an output passgate in an n-well; a second voltage boost circuit producing a second boosted voltage, the n-well of each output passgate being biased using the second boosted voltage, wherein the second boosted voltage is greater than the first boosted voltage. Voltage boost sub-circuits may use gate control circuitry to reduce gate oxide stress, thus allowing lower voltage level FETs to be used.
Claims19
A voltage boost system for boosting a supply voltage, the system comprising:
- a first voltage boost circuit producing a first boosted voltage using at least one voltage boost sub-circuit, each of the at least one voltage boost sub-circuit having an output passgate in an n-well, the output passgate with an on-state voltage level adjusted for reduced oxide stress using a resistive division of the first boosted voltage;
- and
- a second voltage boost circuit producing a second boosted voltage, the n-well of each output passgate being biased using the second boosted voltage,
- wherein the second boosted voltage is greater than the first boosted voltage.
An integrated circuit (IC) designed to substantially operate at a supply voltage, the IC comprising:
- circuitry requiring a boosted voltage relative to the supply voltage;
- a voltage boost system including:
- a first voltage boost circuit producing a first boosted voltage using at least one voltage boost sub-circuit, each of the at least one voltage boost sub-circuit having an output passgate in an n-well, the output passgate with an on-state voltage level adjusted for reduced oxide stress using a resistive division of the first boosted voltage;
- and
- a second voltage boost circuit producing a second boosted voltage, the n-well of each output passgate being biased using the second boosted voltage,
- wherein the second boosted voltage is greater than the first boosted voltage and the second boosted voltage is the boosted voltage required by the circuitry.
A design structure embodied in a machine readable medium for designing, manufacturing, or testing an integrated circuit (IC), the design structure comprising:
- an IC designed to substantially operate at a supply voltage, the IC including:
- circuitry requiring a boosted voltage relative to the supply voltage;
- a voltage boost system including:
- a first voltage boost circuit producing a first boosted voltage using at least one voltage boost sub-circuit, each of the at least one voltage boost sub-circuit having an output passgate in an n-well, the output passgate with an on-state voltage level adjusted for reduced oxide stress using a resistive division of the first boosted voltage;
- and
- a second voltage boost circuit producing a second boosted voltage, the n-well of each output passgate being biased using the second boosted voltage,
- wherein the second boosted voltage is greater than the first boosted voltage and wherein the second boosted voltage is the boosted voltage required by the circuitry.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.