The Split-Path AND-type Match-line Scheme for Very High-Speed Content Addressable Memories

The proposed split-path AND-type non-pipelined match-line scheme achieves over 50% search speed improvement compared to the pipelined NOR-type current-saving controlled match-line scheme (Pagiamtzis et al., 2004). The highest world record of 1.6 ns search speed can also be traded for power saving by adopting voltage scaling. When the supply voltage is reduced to a level so that the energy efficiency of both kinds of design is almost equal, the new scheme still has 18% speed improvement over the conventional design. The authors also found that the new design has a smaller area compared to the conventional NOR-type design