Memtransistor-Based Ternary Content-Addressable Memories: Design and Evaluation

The memtransistor (MT) based on 2-D materials is considered a promising candidate to extend Moore’s law, thanks to its scalability. As a hybrid integration of a memristor and a transistor, MT combines the electrical properties of memristor-based one-transistor one-resistor (1T-1R) structures (i.e., nonvolatile resistive switching and gate selection) into a single compact device. In this work, we evaluate MT technology from an application perspective and explore its use in ternary content-addressable memory (TCAM) systems. Based on characterization data from a ${10} \times {10}$ MoS2-based MT crossbar array, we propose two designs of MT-based TCAM (i.e., bitcells and TCAM array implementations and layouts). We also explore the design space of TCAM parameters and compare the performance and reliability of the proposed TCAM designs. In particular, we demonstrate that the use of MT technology facilitates the implementation of long TCAM words (>2 kbits) at low MT resistance ratios and search voltages, which is desirable for long TCAM endurance.