Non-Volatile Ternary Content Addressable Memory (TCAM) with Two HfO2/Al2O3/GeOx/Ge MOS Diodes

We propose and demonstrate the world-first ternary content ternary addressable memory (TCAM) cell using only two MOS diodes. The diodes are with simple HfO2/Al2O3/GeOx/Ge-sub structure and could be fabricated by fully CMOS compatible process. Owing to the adoption of a very thin GeOx interfacial layer, the diodes show both excellent resistive switching and rectifying characteristics. Furthermore, TCAM cell and array are built with two diodes connected back-to-back. Finally, a well-functioning 8×16 HfO2/Al2O3/GeOx/Ge-sub TCAM array for parallel multi-data search is demonstrated. This novel diode-based cell structure is very promising for future energy and area efficient TCAM applications.