Patent ID: 7030683

Claim:
A charge pump comprising a plurality of serially connected cells for pumping and transferring charge along a series of nodes between the cells, each cell including: a) a charge transfer diode connected between adjacent nodes and responsive to an increasing charge at one node in response to a first clock, φ 1 , or a second anti-phase second clock, φ 2 , b) a charge transfer transistor connected between the adjacent nodes in parallel with the charge transfer diode and responsive to a third clock, φ 3 , within the period of clock φ 1 or to a fourth clock φ 4 within the period of clock φ 2 , c) a recovery transistor for equalizing charge on the control terminal of the charge transfer transistor to charge on the input node during a recovery period, and d) a pre charge diode coupling an input node to a control terminal of the charge transfer transistor to facilitate the conductance of the charge transfer transistor in response to the third clock (φ 3 ) or the fourth clock (φ 4 ), whereby each charge transfer diode transfers charge from one node to a next node in response to one of said first and second clocks (φ 1 or φ 2 ) and each charge transfer transistor transfers residual trapped charge at the one node to the next node while the charge transfer diode is conducting charge.