Patent ID: 7447085

Claim:
A method for driving a rowline to multiple voltage levels, comprising: supplying a first power voltage (V 1 ) to a driver circuit; supplying a second power voltage (V 2 ) that is greater than V 1 to the driver circuit; supplying a first boost voltage (V 3 ) to the driver circuit, V 3 being greater than V 2 ; and supplying a reference voltage (Vref) that is less than V 1 to the driver circuit; coupling a level shifter to the driver circuit, the level shifter including a number of input signals configured to control a drive output of the driver circuit; and switching the drive output successively from a voltage at or below Vref to at least one of V 1 , V 2 , and Vref prior to switching the driving output to V 3 when the driving output switches from the voltage at or below Vref to V 3 .