Low power, high speed level shifter

[54] LOW POWER, HIGH SPEED LEVEL SHIFTER

[75] Inventors: Todd Merritt; Troy Manning, both of Boise, Id.

[73] Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc., Boise, Id.

[21] Appl. No.: 438,645

[22] Filed: May 10,1995

[51] Int. CI.6 H03K 19/0175

[52] U.S. CI 326/80; 326/68; 326/81

[58] Field of Search 326/80, 81, 68,

326/73, 74

[56] References Cited

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS

4,897,565 1/1990 Shimizu 326/80

4,920,284 4/1990 Denda 326/68

4,977,339 12/1990 Denda 326/80

5,225,721 7/1993 Gal 326/81

A voltage level translator is disclosed which translates a CMOS input signal into a CMOS output signal where the low voltage level of the output signal is equal to the high voltage level of the input signal. The voltage level translator is described in an integrated circuit such as memory circuits, including DRAMs. Specifically, the voltage level translator produces an output signal which can be used as a gate voltage on a pre-charge transistor for a booted circuit where the gate voltage need only drop to the high voltage level of the input signal to shut the transistor off. The voltage level translator described, therefore, reduces the time and power required to translate an input signal by limiting the voltage swing of the output signal.

13 Claims, 6 Drawing Sheets