Systems for Built-In-Self-Test for content addressable memories and methods of operating the same

摘要

An improved Built-In-Self-Test (BIST) architecture for Content Addressable Memory (CAM) devices, comprising a bit scanner for reading out the contents of the matchlines of the CAM cells as a serial bit stream; a bit transition detector that detects and determines the address of each bit transition in the serial bit stream; a state machine that generates bit addresses for each expected transition in the serial bit stream; and an analyser that compares expected transition bit addresses with detected transition addresses and declares a BIST failure if expected and detected transition addresses do not match at any point in the bit stream.