Patent ID: 7501876

Claim:
A level shifter circuit, comprising: a first voltage conversion circuit for generating a drive voltage that is lower than a first power supply voltage supplied from a first power supply line and is in correspondence with the first power supply voltage, and generating and outputting complementary signals corresponding to an input signal using the drive voltage; a second voltage conversion circuit, connected to the first voltage conversion circuit, for generating and outputting a signal corresponding to voltages of the complementary signals output from the first voltage conversion circuit using a second power supply voltage supplied from a second power supply line; and an output latch circuit, connected to the second voltage conversion circuit, for receiving and holding the signal output from the second voltage conversion circuit, wherein the first voltage conversion circuit includes: a first transistor having a gate, a drain and a source, wherein the gate and drain are connected to the first power supply line, and the drive voltage is output at the source; and a differential amplifier, connected to the first transistor, for generating the complementary signals corresponding to the input signal and an inverted input signal using the drive voltage output by the first transistor, and wherein the differential amplifier includes: a second transistor having a source connected to the source of the first transistor; a third transistor having a source connected to the source of the first transistor and a gate connected to a drain of the second transistor, and a drain connected to a gate of the second transistor; a fourth transistor having a drain connected to the drain of the second transistor, a gate that receives the inverted input signal, and a source connected to a common line; and a fifth transistor having a drain connected to the drain of the third transistor, a gate that receives the input signal, and a source connected to the common line, wherein the drain terminals of the fourth and fifth transistors output the complementary signals provided to the second voltage conversion circuit.