Patent ID: 6404274
Filing Date: 2002-06-11
Classification: G11C,H02M

Abstract:
An internal voltage generating circuit comprising:a voltage generating circuit; a load resistor element having one terminal connected to an output node of the voltage generating circuit; a first voltage setting circuit including a digital/analog conversion circuitry and a reference voltage generating circuit provided in said first voltage setting circuit for generating a reference voltage supplied to said digital/analog conversion circuitry, said digital/analog conversion circuitry having a first equivalent resistor connected between a ground and a first node coupled to the other terminal of the load resistor element, for controlling the magnitude of an input current flowing through the first equivalent resistor from the load resistor element by controlling the equivalent resistor having a resistance value determined in accordance with digital input data so as to set a potential at the output node of the voltage generating circuit having a potential varying step determined with bit contents of the digital input data; a second voltage setting circuit including a second equivalent variable resistor connected between the ground and the first node coupled to the other terminal of the load resistor element for allowing a current to flow through the second equivalent resistor from said load resistor element so as to determine the minimum voltage output of the voltage generating circuit; a potential comparison circuit for comparing a potential at the first node with a predetermined reference potential, and outputting a comparison result; and a voltage control circuit for setting the potential at the first node equal to the reference potential by substantially controlling the voltage generating circuit in accordance with the comparison result, during a voltage generating operation in which both of said first and second voltage setting circuits are activated.