Patent ID: 8848078

Claim:
A booster circuit comprising: an output terminal; a reference voltage generating section that generates a boosting reference voltage; a charge pump section that boosts the reference voltage and outputs the boosted reference voltage via the output terminal; and an output-terminal voltage holding section that holds the output terminal at a voltage of a high level at a standby time, wherein, (1) the charge pump section includes (a) an input node to which the reference voltage is input, (b) at least one boosting node formed between the input node and the output terminal, (c) at least one reference node corresponding to the boosting node and formed between the input node and a reference potential, (d) at least one boosting capacitor having a first terminal connected to a corresponding boosting node and a second terminal connected to a corresponding reference node, and (e) a plurality of switching transistors that are provided between the input node and the at least one boosting node, between a boosting node at a last stage and the output terminal, between the input node and the reference node, and between the reference potential and the reference node, and are switched on or off by a switch signal, and (2) at the standby time, the output-terminal voltage holding section connects an output side of the reference voltage generating section or the output terminal to a potential equivalent to the high level, and controls an on/off action of those of the switching transistors which are connected between at least the input node in the charge pump section and the output terminal, depending on whether the potential equivalent to the high level is connected to the output side of the reference voltage generating section or the output terminal.