Charge pump stage and a charge pump
AssigneeAnalog Devices Global
InventorBarry P. Kinsella
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A charge pump cell, comprising: an input node; an output node; Q channels, where Q is an integer greater than one, and where at least two of the channels comprise: a capacitor; a unidirectional current flow device; an output diode; and a channel drive signal node; and wherein a first current flow node of the unidirectional current flow device is connected to a first node of the capacitor at a channel node, a second node of the capacitor is connected to the channel drive signal node, a second current flow node of the unidirectional current flow device is connected to the input node, and the output diode is connected between the channel node and the output node.
Claims20
A charge pump cell, comprising:
- an input node;
- an output node;
- Q channels, where Q is an integer greater than one, and where at least two of the channels comprise:
- a capacitor;
- a unidirectional current flow device;
- an output diode;
- and
- a channel drive signal node;
- wherein a first current flow node of the unidirectional current flow device is connected to a first node of the capacitor at a channel node,
- wherein a second node of the capacitor is connected to the channel drive signal node,
- wherein a second current flow node of the unidirectional current flow device is connected to the input node,
- wherein a first node of the output diode is directly connected to the output node, and
- wherein a second node of the output diode is directly connected to the channel node.
A method for generating an output voltage at an output node through charge pumping with aid from at least one diode, comprising:
- applying a first oscillating signal to a control terminal of a first unidirectional current flow device to switch on the first unidirectional current flow device, thereby connecting an input voltage to a first terminal of a first capacitor so that the first capacitor is charged by the input voltage, wherein the first terminal of the first capacitor is directly connected to a first node of a first diode;
- and
- generating a first portion of the output voltage by forward biasing the first diode, the first diode having a second node directly connected to the output node, wherein the forward biasing of the first diode is triggered by applying a second oscillating signal to a second terminal of the first capacitor, wherein the second oscillating signal is in phase opposition to the first oscillating signal such that the first portion is generated during a phase when the first capacitor is not being charged.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.