A low-power CAM using pulsed NAND-NOR match-line and charge-recycling search-line driver

Abstract

This paper proposes a low-power CAM using pulsed NAND-NOR match-line and charge-recycling search-line. The pulsed NAND-NOR match-line not only significantly reduces the match-line power by activating only a few match-lines by using NAND cells for several bits but also achieves high speed by using NOR cells for most bits. The charge-recycling search-line driver reduces the search-line power by recycling the charge of search-lines without precharging. The CAM chip with 128/spl times/32 bit is fabricated in a 0.25-/spl mu/m CMOS process with 2.5 V. It dissipates 17.2 fJ/bit/search. It consumes 31% power of the dynamic NOR-type CAM.