SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE

摘要

A semiconductor device having a level conversion circuit comprises a voltage step-up section (LSC1) actuating the level conversion circuit (LSC) by a low voltage source (VDD), and a circuit section (LSC2) actuating it by a high voltage source (VDDQ). A voltage step-up circuit that constantly provides 2 x VDD level is used for the voltage step-up section so that the low voltage source (VDD) may operate at sub-1 V. Further, the voltage step-up circuit has such a circuit arrangement that it can be constructed of high-speed, thin oxide film-coated MOSFETs alone. Further, the semiconductor device is characterized by including a circuit (LPC) internally self-controlling leak current, which circuit makes it unnecessary to feed a control signal from the outside into the circuit section (LSC2), thus facilitating the design of a circuit for preventing leak current in the level conversion circuit that occurs during the sleep mode of a low voltage circuit (CB1).