Clocking scheme and charge transfer switch for increasing the efficiency of a charge pump or other circuit

摘要

An efficient charge pump circuit. Increased efficiency compared to previous pump circuits is achieved through use of a novel charge transfer switch and associated clocking scheme which reduces the supply current required to operate the charge pump. Instead of repeatedly charging and discharging a stray capacitance of each pump stage capacitor, some of the charge stored in the stray capacitor on the clock driver side is transferred to the next pump stage. This serves to pre-charge the stray capacitor of the next stage, reducing the supply current required to operate the charge pump. The apparatus and method described can also be used to reduce the power consumed by a system or circuit which has internal signals or nodes which are in opposite phase to each other. This is accomplished by reducing the power used to charge and discharge a stray capacitance associated with the signals or nodes.