Nonvolatile and Robust Design of Content Addressable Memory Cell Using Magnetic Tunnel Junction at Nanoscale Regime

Abstract

This paper proposes an efficient and robust design of content addressable memory (CAM) system. Design metrics, such as search time, power dissipation, power-delay product (PDP), and energy-delay product (EDP), of the proposed design are compared with those of previously reported CAM cell found in the literature. CAM cell presented in this paper offers $2.589\times $ improvement in search time, $2.725\times $ improvement in PDP, and $2.729\times $ improvement in EDP for mismatch 1 at 700 mV. It exhibits $2.257\times $ improvement in search time, $2.38\times $ improvement in PDP, and $2.389\times $ improvement in EDP for mismatch 0 at 700 mV. The proposed CAM cell also proves its efficiency in terms of power consumption, which is one of the most concerned design issues. It offers $1.0526\times $ improvement in power consumption for mismatch 1 and $1.054\times $ improvement in power consumption for mismatch 0. The proposed CAM cell is also analyzed to investigate the impact of tunneling magnetoresistance variations on power consumption, PDP, EDP, search time, and search-time variability. In addition, this paper also proposes an efficient match line sensing scheme for the proposed CAM cell.