Patent ID: 7940550

Claim:
A static random access memory (SRAM), comprising: a plurality of sectors, each sector in the plurality of sectors comprising a plurality of SRAM cells arranged in a plurality bitline rows and a plurality of bitline columns, wherein, for each respective sector in the plurality of sectors, each SRAM cell in the plurality of SRAM cells of the respective sector includes a pair of cross-coupled inverters that are coupled to form a pair of data nodes, each SRAM cell in the plurality of SRAM cells of the respective sector includes a pull-down device, the pull-down devices of the plurality of SRAM cells of the respective sector are coupled together, and the plurality of SRAM cells of the respective sector are selectively in (i) a working mode in which data in the plurality of SRAM cells can be accessed and in which the pull-down devices of the SRAM cells in the sector are driven to a first voltage or (ii) a standby mode in which the pull-down devices of the SRAM cells in the sector are driven to a second voltage; a sector decoder configured to (i) identify a sector in the plurality of sectors to be selectively activated to the working mode based on a decoded sector address in a range of sector addresses and (ii) provide a sector selective no bias signal based on the decoded sector address; and a plurality of sector bias circuits, wherein each respective sector bias circuit in the plurality of sector bias circuits is: (A) coupled to (i) said sector decoder and (ii) a sector, in the plurality of sectors, that corresponds to the respective sector bias circuit, and (B) selectively configured to provide the first voltage or the second voltage to the pull-down devices of the SRAM cells in the sector that is coupled to the respective sector bias circuit, wherein the respective sector bias circuit: provides the second voltage to the pull-down devices of the plurality of SRAM cells in the sector that is coupled to the respective sector bias circuit when the respective sector bias circuit is not receiving the sector selective no bias signal from the sector decoder, and provides the first voltage to the pull-down devices of the plurality of SRAM cells in the sector that is coupled to the respective sector bias circuit when the respective sector bias circuit is receiving the sector selective no bias signal from the sector decoder.