Fully parallel 6T-2MTJ nonvolatile TCAM with single-transistor-based self match-line discharge control

A six-MOS-transistor/two-MTJ-device (6T-2MTJ)-based cell circuit with an autonomous leakage-current control mechanism is proposed and fabricated for a fully parallel nonvolatile TCAM. A diode-connected nMOS transistor is inserted into each cell for match-line discharge control, which enables bit-parallel equality-search operation more than 144 bits. Since each match line is divided into three segments, the activity rate of cells is reduced to 2.8%. This almost eliminates leakage power while maintaining comparable search energy of 1.04 fJ/bit/search in comparison with a CMOS-based TCAM.