Patent ID: 7932767

Claim:
A method for operating a charge transfer stage comprising: precharging a charge transfer node to a recharge voltage, V Aic , wherein the charge transfer node is coupled to a first terminal of a charge storage device; transferring an input charge to the charge transfer node via the charge transfer device, and as a result, causing a voltage at the charge transfer node to drop to a voltage in a range that includes a voltage as low as V Amin that depends on a maximum possible charge in the input charge; at the same time, changing an applied voltage which is applied to a second terminal of the charge storage device from a first voltage V 1 , to a second voltage V 2 ; at a later time, transferring charge from the charge storage node via the charge transfer device, and returning the voltage applied to the charge storage device to the first voltage, v 1 ; and controlling voltages V 1 , V 2 , V Amin and V Aic such that (V 1 −V 2 )>(V Aic −V Amin ).