Charge Pump System that Dynamically Selects Number of Active Stages

摘要

A multi-stage charge pump selects the number of active stages dynamically. In the exemplary embodiment, this is done by having a multi-stage master charge pump section in which the number of active stages is settable and a slave charge pump section that is of the same design as the master section. The master section is used drive the external load, while the slave section drives an adjustable internal load. The adjustable load is set by control logic by comparing the operation of the two sections. The control logic then operates the slave sections with a different number of active stages than the master stage in order to determine whether the master stage is using the optimal number of active stages. The control logic can then change the number of active stages accordingly.