Large scale integrated circuit for low voltage operation
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A semiconductor device comprising:
- a semiconductor chip;
circuit blocks formed on the semiconductor chip, selectively supplied by an internal power supply voltage or plural internal power supply voltages;
a reference voltage generator formed on the semiconductor chip, for outputting a reference voltage comprising a supply voltage reference level for operation of a one of the circuit blocks;
voltage converter means formed on the semiconductor chip for selectively converting an external power supply voltage to the internal power supply voltage or to one of the plural internal power supply voltages by using said reference voltage as the reference level; and
an input/output buffer circuit formed on the semiconductor chip;
wherein the voltage converter means includes an amplifier means for selectively generating the internal power supply voltage or the plural internal power supply voltages according to the reference voltage, and the voltage converter means includes switching means for selectively connecting the external power supply voltage to the circuit blocks when the external power supply voltage is smaller than the reference voltage.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is a one-chip ULSI which can carry out fixed operations for a wide range of power supply voltages (1 V to 5.5 V). This one-chip ULSI is composed of a voltage converter circuit(s) which provides a fixed internal voltage for a wide range of power supply voltages, an input/output buffer which can be adapted to several input/out interface levels, a dynamic or volatile RAM(s) which can operate at a power supply voltage of 2 V or less, etc. This one-chip ULSI can be applied to compact and portable electronic devices such as a lap-top type personal computer, an electronic pocket note book, a solid-state camera, etc.
130 Citations
16 Claims
-
1. A semiconductor device comprising:
-
a semiconductor chip; circuit blocks formed on the semiconductor chip, selectively supplied by an internal power supply voltage or plural internal power supply voltages; a reference voltage generator formed on the semiconductor chip, for outputting a reference voltage comprising a supply voltage reference level for operation of a one of the circuit blocks; voltage converter means formed on the semiconductor chip for selectively converting an external power supply voltage to the internal power supply voltage or to one of the plural internal power supply voltages by using said reference voltage as the reference level; and an input/output buffer circuit formed on the semiconductor chip; wherein the voltage converter means includes an amplifier means for selectively generating the internal power supply voltage or the plural internal power supply voltages according to the reference voltage, and the voltage converter means includes switching means for selectively connecting the external power supply voltage to the circuit blocks when the external power supply voltage is smaller than the reference voltage. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
-
-
5. A semiconductor device comprising:
-
a semiconductor chip; a plurality of integrated circuit blocks, each of said integrated circuit blocks including a volatile memory formed on said semiconductor chip, each circuit block having two or more operation modes with different consumed currents and at least one of said operation modes is a mode of retaining data in said volatile memory; and a plurality of voltage converter means, formed on said semiconductor chip, for supplying to said integrated circuit blocks a plurality of internal power supply voltages lower than an input first power supply voltage; wherein at least one of the internal power supply voltages, impedances thereof, and consumed currents in said voltage converter means is varied in accordance with one of the operation modes. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A semiconductor device comprising:
-
a semiconductor chip; a plurality of circuit blocks formed on the semiconductor chip, selectively supplied by a plurality of internal power supply voltages, at least one of the circuit blocks having at least two operation modes with different consumed currents, and at least one circuit block being a volatile memory; a reference voltage generator formed on the semiconductor chip, for outputting a reference voltage, comprising a predetermined voltage level for operation of a one of the circuit blocks; a plurality of voltage converter means formed on the semiconductor chip for selectively converting an external power supply voltage to a one of the internal power supply voltages by using said reference voltage as the predetermined voltage level; and
,a plurality of switching means for selectively connecting the external power supply voltage to a selected circuit block of the plurality, when the external power supply voltage is smaller than the reference voltage level.
-
Specification