Patent ID: 7355890

Claim:
A content addressable memory (CAM) cell, comprising: a NAND-type compare circuit responsive to a first operand containing true and complementary bits of an applied search key and a second operand containing true and complementary bits of a stored search word, said NAND-type compare circuit comprising: a first string of transistors connected end-to-end in series from a first terminal to a second terminal, said first string of transistors having gate terminals responsive to the first operand; and a second string of transistors connected end-to-end in series from the first terminal to the second terminal, said second string of transistors having gate terminals responsive to the second operand and source and drain terminals connected to corresponding source and drain terminals of said first string of transistors such that each source terminal of a transistor in said second string is electrically shorted to at least one source terminal of a transistor in said first string and each drain terminal of a transistor in said second string is electrically shorted to at least one drain terminal of a transistor in said first string.