Fine-grain CAM-tag cache resizing using miss tags

A new dynamic cache resizing scheme for low-power CAM (content addressable memory)-tag caches is introduced. A control algorithm that is only activated on cache misses uses a duplicate set of tags, the miss tags, to minimize active cache size while sustaining close to the same hit rate as a full size cache. The cache partitioning mechanism saves both switching and leakage energy in unused partitions with little impact on cycle time. Simulation results show that the scheme saves 28-56% of data cache energy and 34-49% of instruction cache energy with minimal performance impact.