ACCESS Summer School Lecture - Multi-Bit Content-Addressable Non-Volatile Memories
Content addressable memory (CAM) is a special type of memory capable of performing parallel search across the entire CAM array. This in-memory search functionality drastically reduces the data transfer overhead suffered by conventional von Neumann machines, and makes CAM especially attractive for supporting last-scale data retrieval applications in areas such as machine learning and bioinformatics. However, large CMOS CAM arrays face area and energy challenges. Furthermore, the distance functions supported by CMOS CAM is limited to Hamming distance.
This talk introduces multi-bit CAM (MCAM) based on non-volatile memories. MCAM can store multiple bits in a single CAM cell, thus increasing the density of CAM arrays. Challenges and solutions in MCAM circuit and architecture design will be discussed. I will also present ideas for supporting different distance functions with MCAM. I further demonstrate the use of MCAM in an end-to-end solution to hyperdimensional computing, highlighting the unique contributions of each design layer. These insights may serve as valuable guidelines for future research endeavors.
Xiaobo Sharon Hu is a professor in the department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, USA. She recently joined the U.S. NSF as a rotating Program Director in the Division of Computing and Communication Foundations. Her research interests include low-power system design, circuit and architecture design with emerging technologies, real-time embedded systems, and hardware-software co-design. She has published more than 450 papers in these areas. Some of her recognitions include the Best Paper Award from the Design Automation Conference, International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, and the International Symposium on Low Power Electronics and Design; Marie R. Pistilli Women in Engineering Achievement Award; and NSF Career award. She served as the General Chair and/or TPC Chair of Design Automation Conference, Real-Time Systems Symposium, Embedded Systems Week, etc. She was the Editor-in-Chief of ACM Transactions on Design Automation of Electronic Systems and served as Associate Editor of other ACM and IEEE journals. Sharon Hu is a Fellow of the ACM and the IEEE.