Patent ID: 7474161

Claim:
A charge pump circuit comprising: a charging and discharging capacitor; an output capacitor; switching means for alternately repeating a state of accumulating a charge in the charging and discharging capacitor and a state of transferring the charge in the charging and discharging capacitor to the output capacitor; control means for controlling activation/deactivation of the switching operation of the switching means; and charge discharging means for discharging the charge remaining in the charging and discharging capacitor while the switching operation of the switching means is stopped, wherein: the charge discharging means comprises means for making potentials at one terminal and another terminal of the charging and discharging capacitor the same, the switching means includes: a first and second transistors that connect the one terminal and the another terminal of the charging and discharging capacitor to one terminal and the another terminal of a power source that charges the charging and discharging capacitor, respectively; and a third and fourth transistors that connect the one terminal and the another terminal of the charging and discharging capacitor to one terminal and another terminal of the output capacitor, respectively, and the means for making the potentials of the one terminal and the another terminal of the charging and discharging capacitor the same comprises a fifth and sixth transistors that connect the one terminal and the another terminal of the charging and discharging capacitors to nodes of the same potential.