US Patent 9837890 Charge pump circuit and semiconductor device including the same

Efficiency of a charge pump circuit is increased. The charge pump circuit includes serially connected fundamental circuits each including a diode-connected transistor and a capacitor. At least one transistor is provided with a back gate, and the back gate is connected to any node in the charge pump circuit. For example, the charge pump circuit is of a step-up type; in which case, if the transistor is an n-channel transistor, a back gate of the transistor in the last stage is connected to an output node of the charge pump circuit. Back gates of the transistors in the other stages are connected to an input node of the charge pump circuit. In this way, the voltage holding capability of the fundamental circuit in the last stage is increased, and the conversion efficiency can be increased because an increase in the threshold of the transistors in the other stages is prevented.