High voltage detector to control a power supply voltage pump for a 2.5 volt semiconductor process device

摘要

A high voltage detector circuit (FIG. 2) maintains a voltage (V2) on a reference line driven by a charge pump by turning the charge pump on with a signal (PUMPON) when the reference line voltage (V2) drops below a reference voltage (V1) plus a CMOS transistor threshold voltage. The high voltage detector is further configured to use transistors which have a maximum gate to drain, or gate to source voltage which exceeds the pin supply voltage to the chip. The high voltage detector includes comparators made up of a series of current mirrors driven by weak current sources enabling the circuit to use a minimum amount of power.