Patent ID: 8605180

Claim:
A power gate circuit comprising: a power gate switch connected at least between a reference potential terminal of a circuit to be power-gated and a reference potential or between a power supply terminal of the circuit to be power-gated and a power supply; a capacitor connected to a gate of the power gate switch; a pulse generating section operable to supply a pulse signal to the gate of the power gate switch according to a control signal; and a power gate control section operable to output the control signal to the pulse generating section to supply the pulse signal to the gate of the power gate switch when the power gate switch is turned on and accumulate electrical charges in the capacitor to control a gate potential of the power gate switch such that the potential gradually approaches a potential at which the power gate switch is turned on, wherein the power gate control section sets the gate of the power gate switch to a constant potential instead of supplying the pulse signal after supplying the pulse signal for a predetermined period of time.