Patent ID: 7528647

Claim:
A semiconductor integrated circuit, comprising: a first electrical source terminal which receives a first external power supply voltage; a first voltage generating circuit which is coupled to the first electrical source terminal and which generates a boosted voltage based on the first external power supply voltage, the boosted voltage being greater than the first external power supply voltage; and a second voltage generating circuit which is coupled to the first electrical source terminal to receive the first external power supply voltage and is coupled to the first voltage generating circuit to receive the boosted voltage, wherein the second voltage generating circuit generates a first converted output voltage based on the first external power supply voltage, and then generates a second converted output voltage based on the boosted voltage after the first converted output voltage has been generated based on the first external power supply voltage, and wherein both of the first and second converted output voltages are less than the boosted voltage and gradually decrease, and wherein the second converted output voltage is less than the first converted output voltage.