According to one exemplary embodiment, a voltage up-conversion circuit includes a modulated voltage generator circuit, where the modulated voltage generator circuit is configured to receive an input voltage and generate a modulated voltage, and where the modulated voltage generator circuit includes at least one transistor. The voltage up-conversion circuit further includes a switching circuit coupled to the modulated voltage generator circuit, where the switching circuit is configured to couple the modulated voltage to a load capacitor when the modulated voltage is at a high level and decouple the modulated voltage to the load capacitor when the modulated voltage is at a low level. In the voltage up-conversion circuit, the load capacitor reaches a voltage greater a breakdown voltage of the at least one transistor in the modulated voltage generator circuit. The breakdown voltage can be a reliability breakdown voltage.