Patent ID: 7471105

Claim:
A level shifter, comprising: a pull-up signal generation unit outputting a pull-up signal at a voltage level that is a given voltage level higher than a voltage level of an input signal, the pull-up signal generation unit including a pumping unit for pumping the pull-up signal so that the pull-up signal and the input signal have the same phase, and a maintenance unit maintaining a reference level of the pull-up signal at a given, set voltage level; a pull-up unit pulling-up an output signal in response to the pull-up signal to generate the output signal with a shifted level; and a pull-down unit pulling-down the output signal in response to the input signal, and wherein the maintenance unit includes a pulse generation unit outputting a pulse signal at a given pulse width in response to the output signal, as the output signal shifts from the shifted level to a ground voltage, and a level shifting unit shifting the reference level of the pull-up signal to equal the shifted level of the output signal, in response to the pulse signal.