In-depth Characterization of Resistive Memory-Based Ternary Content Addressable Memories

Resistive Memory (RRAM)-based Ternary Content Addressable Memories (TCAMs) were developed to reduce cell area, search energy and standby power consumption beyond what can be achieved by SRAM-based TCAMs. In previous works, RRAM-based TCAMs have already been fabricated, but the impact of RRAM reliability on TCAM performance has never been proven until now. In this work, we fabricated and extensively tested a RRAM-based TCAM circuit. We show that a trade-off exists between search latency and reliability in terms of match/mismatch detection and search/read endurance, and that a RRAM-based TCAM is an ideal building block in multi-core neuromorphic architectures. These ones would not be affected by long latency time and limited write endurance, and could greatly benefit from their high-density and zero standby power consumption.