Stmicroelectronics S.r.l.

Dario Soltesz

Guido Torelli

Osama Khouri

Andrea Pierin

Rino Micheloni

Stefano Gregori

A charge pump circuit, connected between a first voltage reference and an output terminal, comprises at least two parallel-coupled stages having an elementary charge pump circuit connected between said first voltage reference and said output terminal, and adjustment circuitry connected between said output terminal and respective control terminals of said at least two stages. This adjustment circuitry is arranged to select for actuation an appropriate combination of these elementary stages according to the current absorbed from a load connected to the output terminal.

Low power charge pump circuit

A charge pump voltage booster circuit for generating, from a first voltage supplied at the input to the circuit, an output voltage with an absolute value that is higher than the first voltage, comprises at least one stage having a charge pass element and a charge storage capacitor with a first plate connected to an output of the charge pass element and a second plate controlled by a square-wave control signal of period varying between a reference voltage and the first voltage, supplied to the second plate of the capacitor by means of a driver circuit comprising a pull-up transistor and a pull-down transistor connected in series between the first voltage and the reference voltage. Means of overdriving at least one of the said transistors, either the pull-up transistor or the pull-down transistor, supply to the said at least one transistor a firing control voltage that has a higher absolute value than the first voltage.

Growing community of inventors

Gioia del Colle, Italy

Dario Soltesz