Patents Represented by Attorney Skjerven, Morrill, MacPherson, Frankln & Friel LLP
  • Patent number: 5907484
    Abstract: A charge pump circuit including N stages of diode-capacitor voltage multipliers clocked so as to convert a low voltage received from a supply voltage to a high voltage at an output terminal thereof employs an output stage to improve the efficiency of the charge pump. The output stage includes first and second legs each coupled to the output terminal, where the first leg provides current to the output terminal during low transitions of the clock signal and the second leg provides current to the output terminal during high transitions of the clock signal. In some embodiments, numerous ones of the above-mentioned charge pump circuit may be connected in parallel to achieve even greater output currents. Thus, unlike conventional charge pump circuits, a substantially constant current is provided to the output terminal throughout each period of the clock signal, thereby increasing the average total current provided to the output terminal and, thus, increasing the driving capability of the charge pump circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 25, 1999
    Assignee: Programmable Microelectronics Corp.
    Inventors: Vikram Kowshik, Andy Teng-Feng Yu