Charge pump circuit with internal pre-charge configuration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10971996-B2
Application number	US-202016889508-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 1, 2020
Priority date	Nov 27, 2017
Publication date	Apr 6, 2021
Grant date	Apr 6, 2021

Abstract

A charge pump circuit includes a charge pump configured to increase a voltage of an input signal to generate a voltage-boosted input signal, output the voltage-boosted input signal in response to a determination that the voltage-boosted input signal is greater than or equal to a threshold, and connect the charge pump to a supply voltage to pre-charge the charge pump in response to a determination that the voltage-boosted input signal is less than the threshold. The charge pump circuit includes bandgap reference generator configured to receive the voltage-boosted input signal and output, based on the voltage-boosted input signal, a voltage reference signal to a device that operates in accordance with the supply voltage.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A charge pump circuit, comprising:
a charge pump configured to
increase a voltage of an input signal to generate a voltage-boosted input signal,
output the voltage-boosted input signal in response to a determination that the voltage-boosted input signal is greater than or equal to a threshold, and
connect the charge pump to a supply voltage that is different from the input signal to pre-charge the charge pump (i) in response to a determination that the voltage-boosted input signal is less than the threshold and (ii) prior to a repeated attempt to increase the voltage of the input signal; and

a bandgap reference generator configured to
receive the voltage-boosted input signal, and
output, based on the voltage-boosted input signal, a voltage reference signal to a device that operates in accordance with the supply voltage.

2. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 , wherein the supply voltage is an operating voltage of a circuit that receives the voltage reference signal from the bandgap reference generator.

3. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 , wherein the threshold is less than the supply voltage.

4. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 , wherein the input signal is a clock signal.

5. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 , wherein the charge pump includes a voltage multiplying circuit.

6. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 , further comprising a comparator that is configured to (i) receive the voltage-boosted input signal and the supply voltage and (ii) generate an output based on a comparison between the voltage-boosted input signal and the threshold.

7. The charge pump circuit of claim 6 , wherein the output of the comparator indicates whether the voltage-boosted input signal is less than the threshold.

8. The charge pump circuit of claim 6 , wherein the comparator is configured to define the threshold based on the supply voltage.

9. The charge pump circuit of claim 6 , wherein the comparator is a multiplexor.

10. An integrated circuit including the charge pump circuit of claim 6 .

11. A method of operating a charge pump circuit, the method comprising:
using a charge pump,
increasing a voltage of an input signal to generate a voltage-boosted input signal,
outputting the voltage-boosted input signal in response to a determination that the voltage-boosted input signal is greater than or equal to a threshold, and
connecting the charge pump to a supply voltage that is different from the input signal to pre-charge the charge pump in response to a determination that the voltage-boosted input signal is less than the threshold and (ii) prior to a repeated attempt to increase the voltage of the input signal; and

using a bandgap reference generator,
receiving the voltage-boosted input signal, and
outputting, based on the voltage-boosted input signal, a voltage reference signal to a device that operates in accordance with the supply voltage.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising providing the supply voltage as an operating voltage of a circuit that receives the voltage reference signal from the bandgap reference generator.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the threshold is less than the supply voltage.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising providing a clock signal as the input signal.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising using the charge pump to multiply a voltage of the input signal.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising generating an output based on a comparison between the voltage-boosted input signal and the threshold.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the output indicates whether the voltage-boosted input signal is less than the threshold.

18. The method of claim 16 , further comprising defining the threshold based on the supply voltage.

19. The method of claim 16 , further comprising generating the output using a multiplexor.

20. The method of claim 16 , further comprising arranging thecharge pump circuit in an integrated circuit.

Assignees

• Marvell Asia Pte Ltd

Inventors

• Hunt-Schroeder Eric D
• Fifield John A
• Pontius Dale E

Classifications

• G05F3/205 Primary

  Substrate bias-voltage generators (for static stores G11C5/146) · CPC title

• H02M3/076

  the clock signals being boosted to a value being higher than the input voltage value · CPC title

• H02M1/36 Primary

  Means for starting or stopping converters · CPC title

• H02M3/07

  using capacitors charged and discharged alternately by semiconductor devices with control electrode {, e.g. charge pumps} · CPC title