Negative voltage regulation circuit and voltage generation circuit including the same

• US 9,360,877 B2
• Filed: 07/10/2014
• Issued: 06/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SK Hynix Inc.
• Original Assignee: SK Hynix Inc.
• Inventors: Kwon, Jae-Kwan
• Primary Examiner(s): Dole, Timothy J
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ahmed, Yusef
• Application Number:
  US14/328,294
• Publication Number:
  US 20140320097A1
• Time in Patent Office: 698 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 1/575 characterised by the feedback circuit
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 1/613 using semiconductor devices in parallel with the load as final control devices G05F1/461 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 5/00 Systems for regulating electric variables by detecting deviations in the electric input to the system and thereby controlling a device within the system to obtain a regulated output

Abstract

A negative voltage regulation circuit includes an operational amplifier configured to receive a feedback voltage and an input voltage, a pull-up element configured to pull-up drive a first node based on output voltage of the operational amplifier, a load element coupled between the first node and a negative voltage terminal, a pull-down element configured to pull-down drive a final negative voltage output terminal using a voltage of the negative voltage terminal based on a voltage level of the first node, and a voltage division unit coupled between the final negative voltage output terminal and a pull-up voltage terminal, and configured to generate the feedback voltage by voltage division.

Claims

1. A voltage generation circuit comprising:

a negative voltage generation unit configured to generate a negative voltage;

a first voltage generation unit configured to generate a first positive voltage having first correction information;

a second voltage generation unit configured to generate a second positive voltage having second correction information;

an addition unit configured to add the first positive voltage and the second positive voltage to generate a third positive voltage; and

a negative voltage regulation unit configured to regulate the negative voltage based on the third positive voltage and regulation target information, and to generate a final negative voltage;

wherein the first correction information is used to correct the output voltage based on a temperature variation, and the second correction information is used to correct the output voltage based on a process skew variation.

2. The voltage generation circuit of claim 1, wherein the first voltage generation unit comprises:

a first operational amplifier configured to receive a control voltage regulated by a reference voltage and a first feedback voltage; and

a first voltage division section configured to divide an output voltage of the first operational amplifier to generate the first feedback voltage and the first voltage with a voltage division ratio of the first voltage division section that is regulated by the first correction information.

3. The voltage generation circuit of claim 2, wherein the second voltage generation unit comprises:

a second operational amplifier configured to receive the reference voltage and a second feedback voltage; and

a second voltage division section configured to divide an output voltage of the second operational amplifier to generate the second feedback voltage and the second voltage with a voltage division ratio of the second positive voltage division section that is regulated by the second correction information.

4. The voltage generation circuit of claim 3, wherein the addition unit comprises:

a third operational amplifier configured to output the third voltage;

a first resistor coupled between a first input terminal of the third operational amplifier and an output terminal of the first voltage generation unit; and

a second resistor coupled between the first input terminal and an output terminal of the third operational amplifier.

5. The voltage generation circuit of claim 1, wherein the negative voltage regulation unit comprises:

an operational amplifier configured to receive a feedback voltage and the third positive voltage;

a pull-up element configured to pull-up drive a first node based on output voltage of the operational amplifier;

a load element coupled between the first node and a negative voltage terminal from which the negative voltage is generated;

a pull-down element configured to pull-down drive the final negative voltage output terminal, from which the final negative voltage is outputted, using the negative voltage based on a voltage level of the first node; and

a voltage division unit coupled between the negative voltage output terminal and a pull-up voltage terminal, and configured to generate the feedback voltage by voltage division.

6. The voltage generation circuit of claim 5, wherein the feedback voltage is a positive voltage.

7. The voltage generation circuit of claim 6, wherein the pull-up element includes a first PMOS transistor and the pull-down element includes a second PMOS transistor.

8. The voltage generation circuit of claim 7, wherein a power supply voltage is supplied to a body of the first PMOS transistor, and a ground voltage is supplied to a body of the second PMOS transistor.

9. The voltage generation circuit of claim 1, wherein the voltage division unit comprises:

two or more resistors serially connected to each other between the negative voltage output terminal and the pull-up voltage terminal,

wherein a resistance of one of the resistors is adjusted based on the regulation target information.