Full-Wave Charge Pump With Low-Voltage Startup
First Claim
1. A charge pump, comprising:
- a charge pump circuit comprised of transistor pairs arranged in stages, wherein the charge pump circuit is configured to receive an input voltage and generate a DC output voltage whose magnitude is larger than magnitude of the input voltage;
an energy storage device configured to receive and store voltage from the charge pump circuit, where the energy storage device allows current flow such that turn-on voltage of the transistors in the charge pump circuit is not reduced significantly; and
a switching circuit interfaced with control terminals of the transistors in the charge pump circuit and, in response to leakage current through the transistors in the charge pump circuit resulting from an input voltage to the charge pump circuit, switches on and off the transistors in the charge pump circuit while voltage stored by the energy storage device is below the threshold voltage of the transistors in the charge pump circuit.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A charge pump with low-voltage startup is presented. The charge pump circuit is comprised of transistor pairs arranged in stages, where the charge pump circuit is configured to receive an input voltage and generate an output voltage whose magnitude is larger than magnitude of the input voltage. An energy storage device is configured to receive and store voltage from the charge pump circuit. A switching circuit is interfaced with the control terminals of the transistors in the charge pump circuit. In response to leakage current through the transistors in the charge pump circuit, the switching circuit switches on select transistors in the charge pump circuit while voltage stored by the energy storage device is below threshold voltage of the transistors in the charge pump circuit.
-
Citations
18 Claims
-
1. A charge pump, comprising:
-
a charge pump circuit comprised of transistor pairs arranged in stages, wherein the charge pump circuit is configured to receive an input voltage and generate a DC output voltage whose magnitude is larger than magnitude of the input voltage; an energy storage device configured to receive and store voltage from the charge pump circuit, where the energy storage device allows current flow such that turn-on voltage of the transistors in the charge pump circuit is not reduced significantly; and a switching circuit interfaced with control terminals of the transistors in the charge pump circuit and, in response to leakage current through the transistors in the charge pump circuit resulting from an input voltage to the charge pump circuit, switches on and off the transistors in the charge pump circuit while voltage stored by the energy storage device is below the threshold voltage of the transistors in the charge pump circuit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A full-wave charge pump, comprising:
-
a charge pump circuit having a plurality of stages with a Cockcroft-Walton arrangement comprised of transistor pairs arranged in stages; an energy storage device configured to receive and store an output voltage from the charge pump circuit, where the energy storage device allows current flow such that turn-on voltage of the transistors in the charge pump circuit is not reduced significantly; and a switching circuit interfaced with control terminals of the transistors in the charge pump circuit and, in response to leakage current through the transistors in the charge pump circuit, switches on and off the transistors in the charge pump circuit while voltage stored by the energy storage device is below threshold voltage of the transistors in the charge pump circuit wherein the switching circuit is powered by voltage stored by the energy storage device and switches on and off the transistors in the charge pump circuit while the voltage stored by the energy storage device is above the threshold voltage of the transistors in the charge pump circuit. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
Specification