CASCAM: Comparative Analysis of Search Operation of FinFET- and MOSFET-Based Content-Addressable Memory

Beyond 22nm, a new transistor technology called FinFET (Fin-type field-effect transistor) presents an intriguing power-delay tradeoff. The work presented here involves the development of a Binary Content-Addressable Memory (BCAM) cell using 20nm FinFET technology. We measured the performance metrics and compared them to a CMOS-based design. The CAM cell design presented in this document is based on a NAND-type matchline (ML) matching scheme, which allows for parallel searching of multiple words. In this work, we analyse the advantages and disadvantages associated with each technology and present a comprehensive evaluation of their performance metrics, including power consumption, speed, Power-Delay Product (PDP) and Energy-Delay Product (EDP). The results indicate a significant improvement of 67.45%, 48.56% and 83.26%, 87.32% in power consumption, speed and PDP, EDP, respectively.