CIRCUIT HAVING A LOW POWER CHARGE PUMP FOR STORING INFORMATION IN NON-VOLATILE MEMORY DURING A LOSS OF POWER EVENT

摘要

A data storage circuit for storing data from volatile memory to non-volatile memory is powered by a low power charge pump circuit that is independent of the power for the volatile memory and that is activated upon power loss. The low power charge pump circuit includes an amplifier, a voltage-controlled oscillator, a charge pump core, and a voltage divider. The amplifier outputs a current according to a voltage difference between a reference input voltage and a feedback voltage output from the voltage divider. The current is converted to a voltage that controls the oscillator, which outputs a series of pulses to power the charge pump core. The charge pump core in turn provides the output voltage, which may be used to power an attached load. The attached load may be a programming port for an EEPROM.