Patent ID: 8159797

Claim:
An overvoltage protection circuit comprising: an input terminal externally input with an input voltage; an output terminal; an output transistor of N-channel MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor) arranged between the input terminal and the output terminal; a charge pump circuit which steps up the input voltage; a controller configured to compare the input voltage with a predetermined threshold voltage, and to output an enable signal having a first level when the input voltage is lower than the predetermined threshold voltage; an error amplifier configured to receive a voltage stepped up by the charge pump circuit as a power supply, to receive a feedback voltage corresponding to a voltage of the output terminal at an inverting input terminal thereof, to receive a predetermined reference voltage at a non-inverting input terminal thereof, and to receive the enable signal at an enable terminal thereof, an output terminal thereof being connected to a gate of the output transistor, wherein the output transistor and the error amplifier form a linear regulator, and wherein the error amplifier is configured to (i) perform a normal error amplification when the enable signal has the first level, and to (ii) stop the amplification and to set the output thereof to a low level so as to forcibly turn off the output transistor when the enable signal has a second level.