MODULE IV

THE MEMORY SYSTEM

 Objectives

 Introduction
 Some Basic Concepts
 Memory Addressing
 CPU – Main memory connection
 Internal organization of semiconductor memory chips
 Semiconductor RAM memories
 Static Memories
 Dynamic Memories
 Read Only Memories
 Memory Hierarchy
 Cache memory concept
 Cache memory design parameters
 Mapping Functions
 OBJECTIVES

After studying this module, you will be able to

 Discuss the organization of semiconductor memories.

 Explain the different types of memories.
 Memory Hierarchy
 Understand the concept of Cache Memories
 Discuss their mapping functions,
 INTRODUCTION

 A Memory is a collection of storage cells together with associated

circuits needed to transfer information in and out of storage.
 Programs and data they operate on are held in the main memory of
the computer during execution.
 So here we discuss how this vital part of the computer operates.
 SOME BASIC CONCEPTS

 The maximum size of the memory that can be used in any computer is
determined by the addressing scheme.
Connection of the memory to the processor
 If MAR is k bits long and MDR is n bits long, then the memory may
contain upto2K addressable locations and the n-bits of data are
transferred between the memory and processor.
 This transfer takes place over the processor bus.
 The processor bus has,
 Address Line
 Data Line
 Control Line (R/W, MFC – Memory Function Completed)
 The control line is used for coordinating data transfer.
 The processor reads the data from the memory by loading the address
of the required memory location into MAR and setting the R/W line to
1.
 The memory responds by placing the data from the addressed location
onto the data lines and confirms this action by asserting MFC signal.
 Upon receipt of MFC signal, the processor loads the data onto the data
lines into MDR register.
 The processor writes the data into the memory location by loading the
address of this location into MAR and loading the data into MDR sets
the R/W line to 0.
 Measure of speed of memory…
 Memory Access Time →It is the time that elapses between the
initiation of an operation and the completion of that operation.
Memory Cycle Time → It is the minimum time delay that is required
between the initiations of the two successive memory operations
 MEMORY ADDRESSING

 Let us consider the logical structure of a computer‘s random access

memory (RAM).
 The generic term for the smallest unit of memory that the CPU can
read or write is cell.
 In most modern computers, the size of a cell is 8 bits (1 byte).
 Hardware accessible units of memory larger than one cell are called
words.
 The most common word sizes are 32 bits (4 bytes) and 64 bits (8
bytes).
 Every memory cell has a unique integer address.
 The CPU accesses a cell by giving its address.
 Addresses of logically 162 adjacent cells differ by 1,
 The address space of a processor is the range of possible integer
addresses, typically (0: 2n − 1)
Memory Address
Memory Address
 CPU MAIN-MEMORY CONNECTION

Buses
The buses that connect the three main parts of a computer system are
called the control bus, the data bus and the address bus.

1. Control bus →is used to pass signals (0 and 1 bits) between the three
components. For example, if the CPU wishes to read the contents of memory
rather than write to memory it signals this on the control bus.

2. Address bus→ is used to address memory or I/O modules. Memory addresses

or I/O module port addresses are placed on this bus.

3. Data bus→ is used to transfer data. After the control bus signals a read or write
operation and the address is placed on the address bus the computer
component concerned places the data on the data bus so the destination can
read it
The Computer’s Buses
 As an example of the use of these buses, we can list the steps involved
in the CPU reading data from an address in memory.
 These steps are:
 The CPU places the memory address on the address bus
 The CPU requests a memory read operation on the control bus
 The memory recognizes the memory read operation and examines
the address on the address bus
 Memory moves the data from cells at the address on the address
bus to the data bus
 The CPU reads the data off the data bus.
 INTERNAL ORGANIZATION OF MEMORY
CHIPS:

 Memory cells are usually organized in the form of array, in which each
cell is capable of storing one bit of information.
 Each row of cells constitutes a memory word and all cells of a row are
connected to a common line called as word line.
 The cells in each column are connected to Sense / Write circuit by two
bit lines.
 Figure shows the possible arrangements of memory cells.
 The Sense / Write circuits are connected to data input or output lines
of the chip.
 During a write operation, the sense / write circuit receives input
information and stores it in the cells of the selected word.
 The data input and data output of each sense / write circuits are
connected to a single bidirectional data line that can be connected to a
data bus of the cpu.
 R / W → specifies the required operation.
 CS → Chip Select input selects a given chip in the multi-chip memory
system
Organization of bit cells in a memory chip
 Memory chip consisting of 16 words of 8 bit each.
 This is referred to as a 16x8 organization.
 It can store 128 bits and requires 14 external connections for address,
data and control lines.
 It also needed 2 lines for power supply and ground.
 Consider a memory circuit with 1K cells.
 this can be organized as a 128x8 memory.
 Requiring a total of 19 external connections
 Same can be organized into a 1Kx1 format

• 10 bit address is needed

• But there is only one data line.
• Requiring a total of 15 external connections
 The required 10-bit address is divided into 2 groups of 5-bits each
to form a row and column addresses for the cell array.
 Row address selects a row of 32 cells, all of which are selected in
parallel
 According to the column address only one of these cells is
connected to the external data line by the output multiplexer and
the input demultiplexer
Organization of 1K X 1 Memory Chip
 Eg: a 4M-bit chip may have a 512 Kx 8 organization.
 9 address lines
 8 input/output pins are needed.
  
STATIC MEMORIES:

 Memories that consist of circuits capable of retaining their state as

long as power is applied are known as static memory
 How a static RAM cell may be implemented:
 Two inverters are cross connected to form a latch. The latch is
connected to two bit lines by transistors T1 and T2.
 These transistors act as switches that can be opened / closed under
the control of the word line.
 When the word line is at ground level, the transistors are turned
off and the latch retains its state.
A static RAM cell
 Eg:
 Assume that the cell is in state1:

• Logic value at point X is 1

• Logic value at point Y is 0
 This state is maintained as long as the signal on the word line is at
ground level.
 Read operation
 In order to read the state of the SRAM cell, the word line is
activated to close switches T1 and T2.
 If the cell is in state 1, the signal on bit line b is high and the signal
on the bit line b is low.
 Thus b and bꞌ are complement of each other.
 Sense / write circuit at the end of the bit line monitors the state of
b and bꞌ and set the output according.
 Write Operation:
 The state of the cell is set by placing the appropriate value
on bit line b and its complement on bꞌ and then activating the
word line.
 This forces the cell into the corresponding state. The required
signal on the bit lines are generated by Sense / Write circuit.
CMOS Memory Cell
 Transistor pairs (T3, T5) and (T4, T6) form the inverters in the latch.
 In state 1, the voltage at point X is high by having T3, T6 on and T4,
T5 are OFF.
 Thus T1 and T2 returned ON (Closed), bit line b and bꞌ will have high
and low signals respectively.
 The CMOS requires 5V (in older version) or 3.3.V (in new version) of
power supply voltage.
 The continuous power is needed for the cell to retain its state.
 Merit:
 It has low power consumption because the current flows in the cell
only when the cell is being accessed.
 Static RAMs can be accessed quickly. It access time is few
nanoseconds.
 Demerit:
 SRAMs are said to be volatile memories because their contents are
lost when the power is interrupted.
  
 ASYNCHRONOUS DRAM

 Less expensive RAM‟s can be implemented if simpler cells are used.

 Such cells cannot retain their state indefinitely.
 Hence they are called Dynamic RAM‘s (DRAM).
 The information stored in a dynamic memory cell in the form of a
charge on a capacitor and this charge can be maintained only for a
few milliseconds.
 The contents must be periodically refreshed by restoring this
capacitor charge to its full value. 
 Write Operation:
 In order to store information in the cell, the transistor T is turned
on and the appropriate voltage is applied to the bit line, which
charges the capacitor.
 After the transistor is turned off, the capacitor begins to discharge
which is caused by the capacitor‘s own leakage resistance.
 Hence the information stored in the cell can be retrieved correctly
before the threshold value of the capacitor drops down,
 Read Operation
 During a read operation, the transistor is turned on and a sense
amplifier connected to the bit line detects whether the charge on
the capacitor is above the threshold value.
 A 16- megabit DRAM chip configured as 2M x 8, is shown in Figure
 If charge on capacitor > threshold value →Bit line will have logic
value 1.
 If charge on capacitor < threshold value → Bit line will set to logic
value 0.
 DESCRIPTION:
 The 4096 bit cells in each row are divided into 512 groups of 8.
 21 bit address is needed to access a byte in the memory (12 bit to
select a row, and 9 bits specify the group of 8 bits in the selected
row).
 A (0-8) → Column address of a byte. 
 A (9-20) → Row address of a byte.
 Read/Write Operation:

 During Read/ Write operation, the row address is applied first.

 It is loaded into the row address latch in response to a signal pulse
on Row Address Strobe (RAS) input of the chip.
 When a Read operation is initiated, all cells on the selected row
are read and refreshed.
 Shortly after the row address is loaded, the column address is
applied to the address pins and loaded into Column Address Strobe
(CAS).
 The information in this latch is decoded and the appropriate group
of 8 Sense/Write circuits is selected.
 R/W =1(read operation).
 The output values of the selected circuits are transferred to the data
lines D0 - D7.
 R/W=0 (write operation).
 The information on D0 - D7 is transferred to the selected circuits.
 RAS and CAS are active low so that they cause the latching of address
when they change from high to low.
 This is because they are indicated by RAS and CAS.
 To ensure that the contents of a DRAM‘s are maintained, each row of
cells must be accessed periodically.
 Refresh operation usually perform this function automatically.
 A specialized memory controller circuit provides the necessary control
signals RAS and CAS that govern the timing.
 The processor must take into account the delay in the response of the
memory.
 Such memories are referred to as Asynchronous DRAM‘s.
 Fast Page Mode: 
 Transferring the bytes in sequential order is achieved by applying
the consecutive sequence of column address under the control of
successive CAS signals.
 This scheme allows transferring a block of data at a faster rate.
 The block of transfer capability is called as Fast Page Mode.
 Synchronous DRAM:

 Here the operations are directly synchronized with clock signal.

 The address and data connections are buffered by means of registers.
 The output of each sense amplifier is connected to a latch.
 A Read operation causes the contents of all cells in the selected row to
be loaded in these latches.
 The Figure shows the structure of SDRAM.
 Data held in the latches that correspond to the selected columns are
transferred into the data output register, thus becoming available on
the data output pins.
 The different modes of operation can be selected by writing control
information into a mode register.
 SDRAM have a built in refresh circuitry.
 Apart of this circuitry is a refresh counter, which provides the address
of the rows that are selected for refreshing.
 In a typical SDRAM each row must be refreshed at least every 64ms.
Timing Diagram Burst Read of Length 4 in an
SDRAM
 First, the row address is latched under control of RAS signal.
 The memory typically takes 2 or 3 clock cycles to activate the selected
row.
 Then the column address is latched under the control of CAS signal.
 After a delay of one clock cycle, the first set of data bits is placed on
the data lines.
 The SDRAM automatically increments the column address to access
the next 3 sets of bits in the selected row, which are placed on the data
lines in the next 3 clock cycles.
 Latency and Bandwidth:

 A good indication of performance is given by two parameters. They

are, 
 Latency 
 Bandwidth 
 Latency refers to the amount of time it takes to transfer a word of data
to or from the memory. For a transfer of single word, the latency
provides the complete indication of memory performance. For a block
transfer, the latency denotes the time it takes to transfer the first
word of data.
 Bandwidth is defined as the number of bits or bytes that can be
transferred in one second. Bandwidth mainly depends upon the speed
of access to the stored data and on the number of bits that can be
accessed in parallel.
 Double Data Rate SDRAM (DDR-SDRAM):

 The standard SDRAM performs all actions on the rising edge of the
clock signal.
 The double data rate SDRAM transfer data on both the edges (loading
edge, trailing edge).
 The Bandwidth of DDR-SDRAM is doubled for long burst transfer.
 To make it possible to access the data at high rate, the cell array is
organized into two banks.
 Each bank can be accessed separately.
 Consecutive words of a given block are stored in different banks.
 Such interleaving of words allows simultaneous access to two words
that are transferred on successive edge of the clock.
 Dynamic Memory System:

 The physical implementation is done in the form of Memory Modules.

 If a large memory is built by placing DRAM chips directly on the
main system printed circuit board that contains the processor, often
referred to as Motherboard; it will occupy large amount of space on
the board.
 These packaging consideration have led to the development of
larger memory units known as SIMM‘s and DIMM‘s
 SIMM-Single Inline memory Module 
 DIMM-Dual Inline memory Module 
 SIMM and DIMM consist of several memory chips on a separate
small board that plugs vertically into single socket on the
motherboard.
  
 MEMORY SYSTEM CONSIDERATION:

 To reduce the number of pins, the dynamic memory chips use

multiplexed address inputs.
 The address is divided into two parts.
 They are,
 High Order Address Bit (Select a row in cell array and it is
provided first and latched into memory chips under the control of
RAS signal). 
 Low Order Address Bit (Selects a column and they are provided
on same address pins and latched using CAS signals). 
 The Multiplexing of address bit is usually done by Memory Controller
Circuit,
Use of Memory Controller
  
 The Controller accepts a complete address and R/W signal from the
processor, under the control of a request signal which indicates that a
memory access operation is needed.
 The Controller then forwards the row and column portions of the
address to the memory and generates RAS and CAS signals.
 It also sends R/W and CS signals to the memory.
 The CS signal is usually active low, hence it is shown as CS.
 Refresh Overhead:
 
 All dynamic memories have to be refreshed. In DRAM, the period for
refreshing all rows is 16ms whereas 64ms in SDRAM.
 Example:
Given a cell array of 8K (8192).
Clock cycle=4
Clock Rate=133MHZ
No of cycles to refresh all rows = 8192*4 =32,768
Time needed to refresh all rows = 32768/133*106 =246*10-6
sec
= 0.246sec
Refresh Overhead = 0.246/64
Refresh Overhead = 0.003
 READ ONLY MEMORY (ROM):

 Both SRAM and DRAM chips are volatile, which means that they lose
the stored information if power is turned off.
 Many applications require Non-volatile memory (which retains the
stored information if power is turned off).
 E.g.: Operating System software has to be loaded from disk to
memory which requires the program that boots the Operating System.
 i.e., it requires non-volatile memory.
 Non- volatile memory is used in embedded system. Since the normal
operation involves only reading of stored data, a memory of this type
is called ROM.
ROM CELL
 At Logic value ‗0‘ → Transistor (T) is connected to the ground point
(P).
 Transistor switch is closed and voltage on bit line nearly drops to zero.
 At Logic value ‗1‘ → Transistor switch is open. The bit line remains
at high voltage.
 To read the state of the cell, the word line is activated.
 A Sense circuit at the end of the bit line generates the proper output
value.
 Different types of non-volatile memory are: 
 PROM
 EPROM
 EEPROM
 Flash Memory
 PROM: Programmable ROM:

 PROM allows the data to be loaded by the user.

 Programmability is achieved by inserting a fuse at point P in a ROM
cell.
 Before it is programmed, the memory contains all 0‘s.
 The user can insert 1‘s at the required location by burning out the fuse
at these locations using high current pulse.
 This process is irreversible.

 Merit: 
 It provides flexibility.
 It is faster.
 It is less expensive because they can be programmed directly by
the user.

 
 EPROM - Erasable reprogrammable
ROM:
 EPROM allows the stored data to be erased and new data to be loaded.
 In an EPROM cell, a connection to ground is always made at ‗P‘ and
a special transistor is used, which has the ability to function either as a
normal transistor or as a disabled transistor that is always turned off.
 This transistor can be programmed to behave as a permanently open
switch, by injecting charge into it that becomes trapped inside.
 Erasure requires dissipating the charges trapped in the transistor of
memory cells.
 This can be done by exposing the chip to ultraviolet light, so that
EPROM chips are mounted in packages that have transparent
windows.
 Merits:
 It provides flexibility during the development phase of
digital system.
 It is capable of retaining the stored information for a
long time.
 Demerits:
 The chip must be physically removed from the circuit for
reprogramming and its entire contents are erased by UV
light.
 EEPROM:-Electrically Erasable ROM:

 EEPROM (also written E2PROM and pronounced "e-e-prom,"

"double-e prom," "e-squared," or simply "e-prom") stands for
Electrically Erasable Programmable Read- Only Memory and is a
type of non-volatile memory used in computers and other
electronic devices to store small amounts of data that must be saved
when power is removed, e.g., calibration tables or device
configuration
 When larger amounts of static data are to be stored (such as in USB
flash drives) a specific type of EEPROM such as flash memory is
more economical than traditional EEPROM devices.
 EEPROMs are realized as arrays of floating-gate transistors.
 EEPROM is user modifiable read only memory (ROM) that can be
erased and reprogrammed (written to) repeatedly through the
application of higher than normal electrical voltage generated
externally or internally in the case of modern EEPROMs.
 EPROM usually must be removed from the device for
erasing and programming, whereas EEPROMs can be programmed
and erased in circuit.
 Originally, EEPROMs were limited to single byte operations which
made them slower, but modern EEPROMs allow multi-byte page
operations.
 It also has a limited life - that is, the number of times it could be
reprogrammed was limited to tens or hundreds of thousands of times.
 That limitation has been extended to a million write operations in
modern EEPROMs.
 In an EEPROM that is frequently reprogrammed while the computer
is in use, the life of the EEPROM can be an important design
consideration.
 It is for this reason that EEPROMs were used for configuration
information, rather than random access memory.
 Merits:
 It can be both programmed and erased electrically. It allows the
erasing of all cell contents selectively.
 Demerits:
 It requires different voltage for erasing, writing and reading the
stored data.
 MEMORY HIERARCHY

 To this point in our study of systems, we have relied on a simple

model of a computer system as a CPU that executes instructions and a
memory system that holds instructions and data for the CPU. In our
simple \model, the memory system is a linear array of bytes, and the
CPU can access each memory location in a constant amount of time.
While this is an effective model as far as it goes, it does not reflect the
way that modern systems really work. In practice, a memory system is
a hierarchy of storage devices with different capacities, costs, and
access times. CPU registers hold the most frequently used data. Small,
fast cache memories nearby the CPU act as staging areas for a subset
of the data and instructions stored in the relatively slow main memory.
 The main memory stages data stored on large, slow disks, which in
turn often serve as staging areas for data stored on the disks or tapes of
other machines connected by networks.
 Memory hierarchies work because well written programs tend to
access the storage at any particular level more frequently than they
access the storage at the next lower level. So the storage at the next
level can be slower, and thus larger and cheaper per bit. The overall
effect is a large pool of memory that costs as much as the cheap
storage near the bottom of the hierarchy, but that serves data to
programs at the rate of the fast storage near the top of the hierarchy. As
a programmer, you need to understand the memory hierarchy because
 If the data your program needs are stored in a CPU register, then they
can be accessed in zero cycles during the execution of the instruction.
If stored in a cache, 1 to 30 cycles. If stored in main memory, 50 to
200 cycles. And if stored in disk tens of millions of cycles!. The entire
computer memory can be realized as the hierarchy shown in the
Figure 14.10.
 Here, then, is a fundamental and enduring idea in computer systems: If
you understand how the system moves data up and down the memory
hierarchy, then you can write your application programs so that their
data items are stored higher in the hierarchy, where the CPU can
access them more quickly. This idea centers on a fundamental property
 Programs with good locality tend to access the same set of data items
over and over again, or they tend to access sets of nearby data items.
Programs with good locality tend to access more data items from the
upper levels of the memory hierarchy than programs with poor
locality, and thus run faster. For example, the running times of
different matrix multiplication kernels that perform the same number
of arithmetic operations, but have different degrees of locality, can
vary by a factor of 20!
 Cache Memory

 The cache is a smaller, faster memory which stores copies

of the data from the most frequently used main memory
locations.
 As long as most memory accesses are cached memory
locations, the average latency of memory accesses will be
closer to the cache latency than to the latency of main
memory
 Here we discuss the concepts related to cache memory, the
need for it, their architecture, their working
 CACHE MEMORY CONCEPT

 Cache memory is an integral part of every system now.

 Cache memory is random access memory (RAM) that a computer
microprocessor can access more quickly than it can access regular
RAM.
 As the microprocessor processes data, it looks first in the cache
memory and if it finds the data there (from a previous reading of data),
it does not have to do the more time consuming reading of data from
larger memory.
 The effectiveness of cache mechanism is based on the property of
Locality of reference.
 Locality of Reference

 Many instructions in localized areas of the program are executed

repeatedly during some time period and remainder of the program is
accessed relatively infrequently.
 It manifests itself in 2 ways.

They are :
 Temporal (The recently executed instruction are likely to be
executed again very soon),
 Spatial (The instructions in close proximity to recently executed
instruction are likely to be executed soon).
 If the active segment of the program is placed in cache memory, then
the total execution time can be reduced significantly.
 The temporal aspects of the locality of reference suggest that
whenever an instruction item(instruction or data) is first needed, this
item should be brought into the cache where it will hopefully remain
until it is needed again.
 The spatial aspects suggests that instead of fetching just one item from
the main memory to the cache, it is useful to fetch several items that
reside at adjacent addresses as well.
 The term block is used to refer to a set of contiguous address locations
of some size.
 Another term that is used to refer to a cache block is cache line.
 Use of a Cache Memory
 When a Read request is received from the processor ,the contents of a
block of memory words containing the location specified are
transferred into the cache one word at a time.
 When the program references any of the locations in this block, the
desired contents are read directly from the cache.
 The Cache memory stores a reasonable number of blocks at a given
time but this number is small compared to the total number of blocks
available in Main Memory.
 The correspondence between main memory block and the block in
cache memory is specified by a mapping function
 The Cache control hardware decides that which block should be
removed to create space for the new block that contains the referenced
word.
 The collection of rule for making this decision is called the
replacement algorithm.
 The cache control circuit determines whether the requested word
currently exists in the cache.
 If it exists, then Read/Write operation will take place on appropriate
cache location.
 In this case Read/Write hit will occur.

 In a Read operation, the memory will not be involved.

 The write operation proceeds in 2 ways. They are:
 Write-through protocol 
 Write-back protocol
 Write-through protocol:
 Here the cache location and the main memory locations are
updated simultaneously.
 The write- through protocol is simpler, but it results in
unnecessary Write operations in the main memory when a given
cache word is updated several times during its cache residency.
 Write-back protocol:
 This technique is to update only the cache location and to mark it as
with associated flag bit called dirty/modified bit.
 The word in the main memory will be updated later, when the block
containing this marked word is to be removed from the cache to make
room for a new block.
 If the requested word currently does not exist in the cache during read
operation, then read miss will occur.
 To overcome the read miss Load through / early restart protocol is
used.
 When the addressed word in a Read operation is not in the cache, a
Read Miss occurs.
 The block of words that contains the requested word is copied from
the main memory into the cache.
 After the entire block is loaded in to the cache, the particular word
request is forwarded to the processor.
 During Write operation ,if the addressed word is not in the cache, a
write miss occurs
 MAPPING FUNCTIONS

 To specify where memory blocks are placed in the cache

Example:
Consider a cache consisting of 128 blocks of 16 words each, for a total
of 2048(2K) words.
Main memory is addressable by a 16-bit address, it has 64K words.
I.e. 4K blocks of 16 words each.
Consecutive addresses refer to consecutive words.
 Direct Mapping:

 It is the simplest technique in which block j of the main memory maps

onto block J‘ modulo 128 of the cache.
 Thus whenever one of the main memory blocks 0, 128, 256 is loaded
in the cache, it is stored in block 0.
 Block 1, 129, 257 are stored in cache block 1 and so on.
 The contention may arise when the cache is full, when more than one
memory block is mapped onto a given cache block position.
 The contention is resolved by allowing the new blocks to overwrite
the currently resident block.
 Placement of block in the cache is determined from memory address.
 The memory address is divided into 3 fields, namely,
 Low Order 4 bit field (word) → Select one of 16 words in a
block.
 7 bit cache block field → When new block enters cache, 7 bit
determines the cache position in which this block must be stored.
 5 bit Tag field → The high order 5 bits of the memory address of
the block is stored in 5 tag bits associated with its location in the
cache.
– They identify which of the 32 blocks that are mapped into
this cache position are currently resident in the cache.
DIRECT MAPPED CACHE
 As execution proceeds, the high order 5 bits of the address is
compared with tag bits associated with that cache location.
 If they match, then the desired word is in that block of the cache.
 If there is no match, then the block containing the required word must
be first read from the main memory and loaded into the cache
 Merit: 
 It is easy to implement. 
 Demerit:
 It is not very flexible.
ASSOCIATIVE-MAPPED CACHE
 Here, the main memory block can be placed into any cache block
position.12 tag bits will identify a memory block when it is resolved in
the cache. The tag bits of an address received from the processor are
compared to the tag bits of each block of the cache to see if the desired
block is present. This is called associative mapping. It gives complete
freedom in choosing the cache location. A new block that has to be
brought into
 the cache has to replace (eject) an existing block if the cache is full.
 In this method, the memory has to determine whether a given block is
in the cache. A search of this kind is called an associative Search. The
associative-mapped cache is shown in Figure
 Merit:
 It is more flexible than direct mapping technique. 
 Demerit:
 Its cost is high.
 It is the combination of direct and associative mapping. The blocks of
the cache are grouped into sets and the mapping allows a block of the
main memory to reside in any block of the specified set. In this case,
the cache has two blocks per set, so the memory blocks 0, 64,
128……..4032 map into cache set to 0 and they can occupy either of
the two block position within the set.
 6 bit set field → Determines which set of cache contains the desired
block.
 6 bit tag field → the tag field of the address is compared to the tags of
the two blocks of the set to clock if the desired block is present. 
 The cache which contains 1 block per set is called direct Mapping. A
cache that has ‗k‘ blocks per set is called as k-way set associative
cache. Each block contains a control bit called a valid bit. The Valid
bit indicates that whether the block contains valid data. The dirty bit
indicates that whether the block has been modified during its cache
residency
 Valid bit=0→When power is initially applied to system
 Valid bit =1→When the block is loaded from main memory at first
time.
 If the main memory block is updated by a source and if the block in
the source is already exists in the cache, then the valid bit will be
cleared to ‗0‘. If Processor and DMA use the same copies of data then
it is called as the Cache Coherence Problem.
 Merit:
 The Contention problem of direct mapping is solved by having
few choices for block placement.
 The hardware cost is decreased by reducing the size of associative
search