Enabling in-situ logic-in-memory capability using resistive-RAM crossbar memory

Recently, logic-in-memory (LIM) is gaining growing interest because it eliminates the unnecessary data movement between the memory and logic components that embarrasses both performance and power dissipation in modern microprocessors. However, most of the existing LIM just puts the logic and memory closer rather than a true integration due to the incompatibility of logic and memory circuit structures. In this paper, we propose a in-situ LIM design by leveraging the emerging ReRAM memory in a crossbar structure. It performs in-situ logic processing using the same memory cells based on the resistive states of ReRAMs with non-destructive operations, and therefore can exploit the large internal bandwidth available in the array without data readout. The logic exploration exposes that the proposed LIM can support different logical functions and get in-situ results without moving data in and out of the memory. We believe that the proposed design provides a promising solution for a true logic processing capability within memory.