Patent ID: 8154333

Claim:
A charge pump circuit comprising: an input end; an output end; and at least one stage coupled between the input end and the output end, the at least one stage comprising a first complementary MOS (CMOS) transistor pair, a first capacitor coupled with the first CMOS transistor pair, a second CMOS transistor pair, and a second capacitor coupled with the second CMOS transistor pair, wherein the at least one stage further includes a first transistor having a first gate being coupled with the first CMOS transistor pair and a source coupled with a gate of an NMOS transistor of the first CMOS transistor pair, wherein no transistor is present between the source of the first transistor and the gate of the NMOS transistor of the first CMOS transistor pair; a third capacitor being coupled with the first transistor; a second transistor having a second gate being coupled with the second CMOS transistor pair and a source coupled with a gate of an NMOS transistor of the second CMOS transistor pair, wherein no transistor is present between the source of the second transistor and the gate of the NMOS transistor of the second CMOS transistor pair; and a fourth capacitor being coupled with the second transistor and wherein the at least one stage is configured to: receive a first timing signal and a second timing signal for pumping an input voltage at the input end to an output voltage at the output end, during a transitional period the first timing signal configured to transition from a first state to a second state, and the second timing signal configured to transition from the second state to the first state; and substantially turning off at least one of the first CMOS transistor pair and the second CMOS transistor pair during the transitional period for substantially reducing leakage currents flowing through at least one of the first CMOS transistor pair and the second CMOS transistor pair.