A regulated charge pump, regulated by a plurality of capacitor boost stages and separate from the memory device supply voltage (V.sub.cc), generates a regulated voltage (V.sub.SA) over a range of supply voltages. The regulated charge pump powers sense amplifier and differential amplifier circuits of the memory device to permit a low bit line bias voltage. The differential amplifier circuit generates a logical output to indicate a memory cell programmed state that is detected by the sense amplifier circuit.