A Low-Power Split-Controlled Single Ended Storage Content Addressable Memory

Content addressable memory (CAM) is a hardware search engine used for high speed searching/accessing. The utilization of CAM is still constrained in some applications by large power dissipation. Especially, the search approach contributes more power in overall power dissipation. This paper proposes a low-power CAM cell using split-controlled single ended storage (SCSES) technique to achieve energy-efficient hardware search engine. A 64×32-bit CAM array is designed using GPDK 45-nm CMOS technology and the post-layout simulations are performed in SPECTRE simulator to verify the power efficiency. The proposed design can achieve search result in 0.558 ns with energy efficiency of 0.83 fJ/bit/search at 1.0 V.