RTUEE / EC / EEEYr 2024 · Sem 42024

Q9Digital Electronics

Question

2 marks

Describe CAM.

Answer

CAM (Content Addressable Memory) is a special memory that is searched by content (data value) rather than by address, returning the address(es) where that content is stored.

  • Also called associative memory
  • Each bit of each word has comparison circuitry
  • Parallel search across all entries simultaneously - very fast lookup
  • Ternary CAM (TCAM) has a third state 'don't care' (X) for masked comparisons
  • Applications: CPU cache tag lookup, TLB (Translation Lookaside Buffer), network routers (IP address lookup), database acceleration

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