Patent ID: 8294509

Claim:
A method of operating a charge pump including a plurality of capacitors, each having a first plate and a second plate, the method comprising: alternatingly operating the charge pump in a reset phase and a charging phase, the reset phase including: connecting the first plate of each of the capacitors to a low voltage value and connecting the second plate of each of the capacitors to a high voltage value, and the charging phase including: connecting the capacitors in series, where the first plate of each capacitor except the first in the series is connected to the second plate of the preceding capacitor in the series, the first plate of the first capacitor in the series is connected to the high voltage value, and the second of the last plate in the series is connected to an output node of the charge pump, and wherein the method further includes, a pre-charge phase after each reset phase and before the subsequent charging phase, where the pre-charge phase comprises connecting the second plate of one of the capacitors other than the last in the series to the first plate of next capacitor in the series and connecting first plate of said one of the capacitors to the high voltage value.