Charge pump circuit configured for positive and negative voltage generation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11031865-B2
Application number	US-202016911967-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 25, 2020
Priority date	Aug 12, 2019
Publication date	Jun 8, 2021
Grant date	Jun 8, 2021

Abstract

A charge pump includes an intermediate node capacitively coupled to receive a first clock signal oscillating between a ground and positive supply voltage, the intermediate node generating a first signal oscillating between a first and second voltage. A level shifting circuit shifts the first signal in response to a second clock signal to generate a second signal oscillating between first and third voltages. A CMOS switching circuit includes a first transistor having a source coupled to an input, a second transistor having a source coupled to an output and a gate coupled to receive the second signal. A common drain of the CMOS switching circuit is capacitively coupled to receive the first clock signal. When positively pumping, the first voltage is twice the second voltage and the third voltage is ground. When negatively pumping, the first and third voltages are of opposite polarity and the second voltage is ground.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A charge pump circuit, comprising:
an input voltage node;
an output voltage node;
a first transistor and a second transistor in a cross-coupled configuration, wherein the first transistor is coupled between the input voltage node and a first intermediate node and the second transistor is coupled between the input voltage node and a second intermediate node;
wherein the first and second intermediate nodes are capacitively coupled to receive first and second clock signals that are logical inverses of each other;
a first CMOS switching circuit including a first switching transistor having a source node coupled to receive a first signal at the first intermediate node and a second switching transistor having a source node coupled to receive a third clock signal, wherein the second clock signal is a logical inverse of the third clock signal;
a second CMOS switching circuit including a third switching transistor having a source node coupled to receive a second signal at the second intermediate node and a fourth switching transistor having a source node coupled to receive a fourth clock signal, wherein the first clock signal is a logical inverse of the fourth clock signal;
a third CMOS switching circuit including a fifth switching transistor having a source node coupled to the input node, a sixth switching transistor having a source node coupled to the output node, and wherein a gate node of at least one of the fifth and sixth switching transistors is coupled to receive a third signal at a common drain of the first CMOS switching circuit;
a fourth CMOS switching circuit including a seventh switching transistor having a source node coupled to the input node, an eighth switching transistor having a source node coupled to the output node, and wherein a gate node of at least one of the seventh and eighth switching transistors is coupled to receive a fourth signal at a common drain of the second CMOS switching circuit;
wherein a common drain of the third CMOS switching circuit and a common drain of the fourth CMOS switching circuit are capacitively coupled to respectively receive the first and second clock signals.

2. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 , wherein the gate nodes of both of the fifth and sixth switching transistors are coupled to receive the third signal and wherein the gate nodes of both of the seventh and eighth switching transistors are coupled to receive the fourth signal.

3. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 configured for operation as a positive charge pump, wherein:
the input voltage node receives a positive supply voltage; and
the output voltage node generates a positive output voltage that is substantially equal to two times the positive supply voltage.

4. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 configured for operation as a positive charge pump, wherein:
the input voltage node receives a positive supply voltage; and
gate nodes of the first, second, third and fourth switching transistors receive the positive supply voltage.

5. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 configured for operation as a positive charge pump, wherein:
the input voltage node receives a positive supply voltage;
gate nodes of the first and second switching transistors are coupled to receive the second signal; and
gate nodes of the third and fourth switching transistors are coupled to receive the first signal.

6. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 configured for operation as a positive charge pump, wherein the first and third switching transistors are p-channel transistors.

7. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 configured for operation as a positive charge pump, wherein the fifth and seventh switching transistors are n-channel transistors.

8. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 configured for operation as a positive charge pump, wherein:
the input voltage node receives a positive supply voltage; and
the first and second signals oscillate between a first voltage substantially equal to the positive supply voltage and a second voltage substantially equal to two times the positive supply voltage.

9. The charge pump circuit of claim 8 , wherein the third and fourth signals oscillate between the second voltage and a ground voltage.

10. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 configured for operation as a positive charge pump, wherein:
the input voltage node receives a positive supply voltage;
the gate node of the fifth switching transistor is coupled to receive the first signal;
the gate node of the sixth switching transistor is coupled to receive the third signal;
the gate node of the seventh switching transistor is coupled to receive the second signal; and
the gate node of the eighth switching transistor is coupled to receive the fourth signal.

11. The charge pump circuit of claim 10 , wherein:
gate nodes of the first and second switching transistors are coupled to receive the second signal; and
gate nodes of the third and fourth switching transistors are coupled to receive the first signal.

12. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 configured for operation as a positive charge pump, wherein:
the input voltage node receives a positive supply voltage;
the gate node of the fifth switching transistor is coupled to receive a signal at the common drain of the fourth CMOS switching circuit;
the gate node of the sixth switching transistor is coupled to receive the third signal;
the gate node of the seventh switching transistor is coupled to receive a signal at the common drain of the third CMOS switching circuit; and
the gate node of the eighth switching transistor is coupled to receive the fourth signal.

13. The charge pump circuit of claim 12 , wherein the gate nodes of the first, second, third and fourth switching transistors receive the positive supply voltage.

14. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 configured for operation as a negative charge pump, wherein:
the input voltage node receives a ground supply voltage; and
the output voltage node generates a negative output voltage.

15. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 configured for operation as a negative charge pump, wherein:
the input voltage node receives a ground supply voltage; and
gate nodes of the first, second, third and fourth switching transistors receive the ground supply voltage.

16. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 configured for operation as a negative charge pump, wherein:
the input voltage node receives a ground supply voltage;
gate nodes of the first and second switching transistors are coupled to receive the second signal; and
gate nodes of the third and fourth switching transistors are coupled to receive the first signal.

17. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 configured for operation as a negative charge pump, wherein the first and third switching transistors are n-channel transistors.

18. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 configured for operation as a negative charge pump, wherein the fifth and seventh switching transistors are p-channel transistors.

19. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 configured for operation as a negative charge pump, wherein:
the input voltage node receives a ground supply voltage; and
the first and second signals oscillate between the ground supply voltage and a negative voltage.

20. The charge pump circuit of claim 19 , wherein the third and fourth signals oscillate between the negative voltage and a positive voltage.

21. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 configured for operation as a negative charge pump, wherein:
the input voltage node rec

Assignees

• St Microelectronics Int Nv

Inventors

• Rana Vikas

Classifications

• H02M3/073 Primary

  Charge pumps of the Schenkel-type · CPC title

• H02M3/076

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

• H02M3/071

  adapted to generate a negative voltage output from a positive voltage source · CPC title

• H02M3/07 Primary

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

• H02M2003/076

  Electricity · mapped topic