Patent ID: 8723857

Claim:
A charge pump circuit comprising: a first transistor including a first bulk terminal, a first input terminal and a first output terminal; a first switching circuit configured to connect the first bulk terminal to one of the first input terminal and the first output terminal based on a voltage of the first input terminal and a voltage of the first output terminal, the first switching circuit including, a first control signal generator configured to (1) output a first control signal having a low level voltage and a second control signal having the voltage of the first input terminal if the voltage of the first input terminal is higher than the voltage of the first output terminal, and (2) output the first control signal having the voltage of the first output terminal and the second control signal having the low level voltage if the voltage of the first output terminal is higher than the voltage of the first input terminal, a first switching transistor configured to connect the first input terminal and the first bulk terminal in response to the first control signal, and a second switching transistor configured to connect the first output terminal and the first bulk terminal in response to the second control signal, a first bulk of the first switching transistor and a second bulk of the second switching transistor being connected to the first bulk terminal; a first capacitor having a first terminal connected to the first output terminal; and a second switching circuit configured to connect a second terminal of the first capacitor to the first input terminal or a ground in response to a plurality of clock signals.