Charge pump circuit and working method using its non-volatile storage

Abstract

Traditional charge pump circuit for generating positive and negative voltages, without high voltage outputs. There is a provided a charge pump circuit comprising: a first reverse current prevention circuit connected between an external power supply and a first internal node; a first output node, connected to the first internal node, for outputting a first output potential; a second reverse current prevention circuit connected between a second power supply node receiving ground potential and a second internal node; power supply node for receiving a first power supply potential; a first reverse current prevention means connected between the first power supply node and a first internal node; a first output node, connected to the first internal node, for outputting a first output potential; and power supply generation means, connected between the first internal node and second internal node, for enhancing the potential of the second internal node as compared to that of the first internal node, wherein the power supply generation means is formed on or within a semiconductor substrate, and includes a diode element provided so as to flow a current from the first internal node to the second internal node, and a capacitor having one electrode connected to the first and second nodes, and the other electrode provided with a clock signal. thereby enabling higher outputs on both positive and negative voltages.

Description

technical field [0001] In particular, the gate semiconductor integrated circuit of the present invention is a charge pump circuit that generates a positive or negative voltage from an externally supplied power supply potential, and an operating method of a nonvolatile memory using the charge pump circuit. Background technique [0002] The power supplied to semiconductor integrated circuits from the outside is usually a single power supply or a dual power supply. However, electronic devices such as flash memories that require multiple power supplies need to generate the desired voltage internally. The circuit that performs this function is usually called a charge pump. circuit. This charge pump circuit consists of multiple capacitors, drivers, and oscillators. In recent years, with the advancement of semiconductor integrated circuits, the power supply voltage has had to be lowered in order to achieve low power consumption. Therefore, low-voltage charge amplifiers are essenti...

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Problems solved by technology

[0015] exist Figure 20 When a positive voltage occurs, as described above, the NMOS transistor 108 is turned on due to being charged to the Vdd-Vth potential, while the PMOS transistor 109 is turned off (Vdd potential) and does not discharge to the ground 102. However, due to the positive voltage The output POUT becomes a potential higher than Vdd, so it discharges from the PMOS transistor 109 to the ground line 102, so the potential does not rise, and the desired positive high voltage output cannot be obtained.

[0016] In addition, in Figure 21 When a negative voltage of the negative voltage occurs, the PMOS transistor 109 is turned on because it is charged to the GND+Vth potential, and the NMOS transistor 108 is turned off (GDN potential). However, since the negative voltage output NOUT becomes a potential lower than GND, from The NMOS transistor 108 is charged to a potential Vdd potential higher than that of the power supply 101, and therefore, the potential does not drop, so that a negative high voltage output cannot be obtained.

[0017] In this way, although the existing charge pump circuit for generating positive and negative voltages can generate two power supplies of positive voltage and negative voltage, the desired high voltage output cannot be obtained.

[0018] In addition, when using a charge pump circuit to operate a nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory, it is necessary to apply opposite high voltages to the floating gate and the well to inject and pull electrons out. However, when positive and negative voltages occur when using Different from the case of using separate charge pump circuits for positive voltage generation and negative voltage generation, the operation method of the nonvolatile memory of the charge pump circuit of these two voltages cannot combine the positive voltage and the negative voltage Applied to wordline and well

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