A level shifter may include: a discharge circuit configured to receive an input signal on the basis of a first power supply voltage, and discharge an internal node on the basis of the input signal; a charge supply circuit configured to supply charge to an output node from which an output signal is outputted, on the basis of a second power supply voltage; and a voltage adjustment circuit including a first MOS transistor coupled between the internal node and the output node, and configured to adjust the voltage of the output node on the basis of a bias voltage applied to the first MOS transistor, and stop the operation of adjusting the voltage of the output node on the basis of the bias voltage, when the levels of the first and second power supply voltages are equal to each other.

A device includes a memory cell array configured to store data; and a signal propagation circuit configured to propagate a signal between the memory cell array and a host. The signal propagation circuit includes a first inverted signal output circuit, a second inverted signal output circuit including an input terminal connected to i) an output terminal of the first inverted signal output circuit and ii) an output terminal of the second inverted signal output circuit, a third inverted signal output circuit including an input terminal connected to i) the output terminal of the first inverted signal output circuit and ii) the output terminal of the second inverted signal output circuit, and a fourth inverted signal output circuit including an input terminal connected to i) an output terminal of the third inverted signal output circuit and ii) an output terminal of the fourth inverted signal output circuit.

The amplitude voltage of a signal input to a level shifter can be increased and then output by the level shifter circuit. Specifically, the amplitude voltage of the signal input to the level shifter can be increased to be output. This decreases the amplitude voltage of a circuit (a shift register circuit, a decoder circuit, or the like) which outputs the signal input to the level shifter. Consequently, power consumption of the circuit can be reduced. Alternatively, a voltage applied to a transistor included in the circuit can be reduced. This can suppress degradation of the transistor or damage to the transistor.

The amplitude voltage of a signal input to a level shifter can be increased and then output by the level shifter circuit. Specifically, the amplitude voltage of the signal input to the level shifter can be increased to be output. This decreases the amplitude voltage of a circuit (a shift register circuit, a decoder circuit, or the like) which outputs the signal input to the level shifter. Consequently, power consumption of the circuit can be reduced. Alternatively, a voltage applied to a transistor included in the circuit can be reduced. This can suppress degradation of the transistor or damage to the transistor.

A semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array and a signal propagation circuit disposed on a propagation path of a signal or a control signal. The signal propagation circuit includes a first inverted signal output circuit; a second inverted signal output circuit including an input terminal connected to an output terminal of the first inverted signal output circuit; a third inverted signal output circuit including an input terminal connected to output terminals of the first inverted signal output circuit and the second inverted signal output circuit; a fourth inverted signal output circuit including an input terminal connected to an output terminal of the third inverted signal output circuit, and further including a terminal connected to output terminals of the third inverted signal output circuit and the fourth inverted signal output circuit.

A CMOS output circuit includes a first P-MOSFET having a source connected to a power supply terminal, a drain connected to an output terminal, and a back gate connected to a first potential terminal; a first N-MOSEFET having a drain connected to the output terminal, a source connected to the ground terminal, and a back gate connected to a second potential terminal; a first potential switching portion arranged to switch whether to connect the first potential terminal to the power supply terminal or to the output terminal; a second potential switching portion arranged to switch whether to connect the second potential terminal to the ground terminal or to the output terminal; a first gate switching portion arranged to switch whether or not to short-circuit the gate of the first P-MOSFET to the first potential terminal; a second gate switching portion arranged to switch whether or not to short-circuit the gate of the first N-MOSFET to the second potential terminal; a first driver arranged to drive the gate of the first P-MOSFET in accordance with a first input signal; a second driver arranged to drive the gate of the first N-MOSFET in accordance with a second input signal; and a control portion arranged to control individual portions of the circuit when turning off both the first P-MOSFET and the first N-MOSFET, so as to connect the first potential terminal to one of the power supply terminal and the output terminal, which has a higher potential, to connect the second potential terminal to one of the ground terminal and the output terminal, which has a lower potential, to short-circuit the gate of the first P-MOSFET to the first potential terminal, and to short-circuit the gate of the first N-MOSFET to the second potential terminal.

The amplitude voltage of a signal input to a level shifter can be increased and then output by the level shifter circuit. Specifically, the amplitude voltage of the signal input to the level shifter can be increased to be output. This decreases the amplitude voltage of a circuit (a shift register circuit, a decoder circuit, or the like) which outputs the signal input to the level shifter. Consequently, power consumption of the circuit can be reduced. Alternatively, a voltage applied to a transistor included in the circuit can be reduced. This can suppress degradation of the transistor or damage to the transistor.

The present invention relates to a novel and inventive compound device structure, enabling a charge-based approach that takes advantage of sub-threshold operation, for designing analog CMOS circuits. In particular, the present invention relates to a solid state device based on a complementary pair of n-type and p-type current field-effect transistors, each of which has two control ports, namely a low impedance port and gate control port, while a conventional solid state device has one control port, namely gate control port. This novel solid state device provides various improvement over the conventional devices.

A high voltage integrated circuit device suppresses the quantity of holes that are implanted due to a negative voltage surge, thus preventing malfunction and destruction of a high side circuit. A p.sup.−-type aperture portion has a gap portion in an n-type well region that is a voltage resistant region, penetrating the n-type well region to reach a p-type substrate, so as to enclose an n-type well region that is a high potential region.

A driver circuit drives a high voltage I/O interface using stacked low voltage devices in the pull-up and pull-down portions of the driver. The transistor closest to the PAD in the pull-up portion receives a dynamically adjusted gate bias voltage adjusted based on the value of the data supplied to the output circuit and the transistor in the pull-down portion closest to the PAD receives the same dynamically adjusted gate bias voltage. The transistors closest to the power supply nodes receive gate voltages that are level shifted from the core voltage levels of the data supplied to the output circuit. The transistors in the middle of the pull-up and pull-down transistor stacks receive respective static gate voltages. The bias voltages are selected such that the gate-drain, source-drain, and gate-source voltages of the transistors in the output circuit do not exceed the voltage tolerance levels of the low voltage devices.