Charge Pump Circuit Leakage Reduction via Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional charge pump circuits face limitations in generating high output voltages due to leakage current, inefficiencies in multi-stage structures, and transistor degradation from high electric fields, leading to unstable output and performance degradation.
Innovation Solution
A charge pump circuit design that includes initialization and boosting units with serially connected transfer transistors and bulk bias units to manage voltage phases and prevent bulk forward-bias effects, ensuring stable output and reduced leakage current.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional charge pump circuits use single transfer transistor configuration, then device complexity is low, but leakage current increases and output voltage stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The charge pump circuit is divided into two independent pump units (first and second pump units), each with its own transfer transistors and control mechanisms. This segmentation allows each unit to operate semi-independently, reducing the impact of leakage current from one unit on the other, and improving overall output voltage stability through distributed charge transfer operations.
2Power
If charge pump circuit operates at high voltage, then output voltage is improved, but transistor degradation from high electric fields increases
Solution Approach 1:
The circuit employs periodic charge transfer operations where the first and second pump units alternately perform charge pumping actions. This periodic operation allows transistors to spend part of the time in high-voltage stress conditions and part of the time recovering, reducing cumulative degradation from continuous high electric field exposure while maintaining high output voltage capability.
3Power
If multi-stage charge pump structure is used, then voltage boosting capability is improved, but inefficiencies and leakage current increase
Solution Approach 1:
The first and second pump units are merged into a single integrated circuit structure that shares common elements such as capacitors and control logic. This merging allows the circuit to achieve multi-stage voltage boosting capability while reducing total leakage current compared to separate multi-stage circuits, as the shared components have only one interface to the high-voltage node rather than multiple interfaces.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables the generation of higher voltages with improved current supply capability and reduced leakage current, maintaining stable output voltages and preventing transistor degradation, thus enhancing the performance of semiconductor circuits.
Implementation Method 1
The charge pump circuit can obtain a high voltage by performing a boosting operation based on the law of conservation of electric charge after charging a voltage in an initialization state and transferring the charged voltage to an output stage.
Implementation Method 2
bulk bias units each preventing bulk forward-bias effect of a PMOS transistor by raising a bulk voltage of the transfer unit by a predetermined level
Data Source
AI summary
A charge pump circuit includes initialization units, each of which initializes a boost node to an initialization voltage. Boosting units each boost the boost node to a higher voltage than the initialization voltage in response to an input voltage. First and second pump circuits each include a transfer unit for transferring a voltage of the boost node to an output node and sharing the output node. The transfer unit of the first pump circuit includes two transfer transistors that are switched in response to a voltage of a control node of the first pump circuit and the voltage of the boost node of the second pump circuit. The transfer unit of the second pump circuit includes two transfer transistors that are switched in response to a voltage of a control node of the second pump circuit and the voltage of the boost node of the first pump circuit.