Patent 7502239 was granted and assigned to RICOH COMPANY,LTD. on March, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A charge pump circuit is provided for generating a voltage (1+1/n) times as high as a supply voltage. The charge pump circuit eliminates the need for diodes for preventing a current from flowing back from a high potential side of capacitors to prevent a reduction in the voltage due to a forward voltage, and reduces a reactive current and latch-up when the charge pump circuit is integrated into a single IC chip. The charge pump circuit includes a fourth switching element having a substrate gate connected to a drain for preventing a current from flowing back to an input terminal from a high potential side of fly back capacitors connected in series, and a second switching element having a substrate gate connected to a drain for preventing a current from flowing back from a high potential side of a catch-up capacitor to the fly back capacitors connected in series.