A Complete Charge Recycling TCAM with Checkerboard Array Arrangement for Low Power Applications

概要

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Architecture of a low power Ternary Content Addressable Memory (TCAM) is proposed. The TCAM is a powerful engine for search and sort processing, but it has two serious problems, large power consumption and large power line noise. To solve these problems, we have developed a charge recycling scheme for match lines and search lines. A combination of the newly introduced PMOS CAM cell together with the conventional NMOS CAM cell realizes match line charge recycling. A checkerboard arrangement of the NMOS and the PMOS cell array enables search line charge recycling. By using these technologies, the power consumption of the TCAM can be reduced to 50% of conventional designs, and as a result, the power line noise is also reduced. An experimental chip has been fabricated in 180-nm 6-metal process. The power consumption of this chip is 6.3fJ/bit/search, which is half of the conventional scheme.