12.4 1.4Gsearch/s 2Mb/mm2 TCAM using two-phase-precharge ML sensing and power-grid preconditioning to reduce Ldi/dt power-supply noise by 50%

Abstract

Ternary Content Addressable Memory (TCAM) executes a fully parallel search of its entire memory contents and uses powerful wild-card pattern matching to return search results in a single clock cycle. This capability makes TCAM attractive for implementing fast hardware look-up tables in network routers, processor caches, and many pattern recognition applications. However, the push for higher performance and increased memory density coupled with parallel TCAM array activation during search operation creates large Ldi/dt power supply noise challenges that could result in timing fails in both TCAM and its surrounding logic.