Patent ID: 7746133

Claim:
A charge pump circuit comprising: an input rail; an output rail; a voltage rail; a control line; an MOS input transistor, the input transistor including a channel and a gate, the channel of the input transistor being connected between the input rail and the voltage rail; an MOS output transistor, the output transistor including a channel and a gate, the channel of the output transistor being connected between the output rail and the voltage rail, the gate of the input transistor being connected to the gate of the output transistor; a switch for connecting the channel of the output transistor to the voltage rail in response to a signal on the control line; an MOS input cascode transistor, the input cascode transistor including a channel and a gate, the channel of the input cascode transistor connecting the channel of the input transistor to the input rail; an MOS output cascode transistor, the output cascode transistor including a channel and a gate, the channel of the output cascode transistor connecting the channel of the output transistor to the output rail, the gate of the input cascode transistor being connected to the gate of the output cascode transistor; and a switched bias circuit connected between the gate of the output cascode transistor and the voltage rail for biasing the voltage of the gate of the output cascode transistor in response to an absence of the signal on the control line such that the output cascode transistor inhibits flow of current through the output transistor from the output rail; wherein closing and opening the switch allows current to flow and not flow respectively between the output rail and the output transistor.