I would be surprised if caches and virtual memory TLBs weren't build based on associative memory. The thing with associative memory is that it's a simple logic

I would be surprised if caches and virtual memory TLBs weren't build based on associative memory. The thing with associative memory is that it's a simple logic in principle, but becomes a sprawling array of and gates when implemented in hardware. This takes it out of the competition for high density memory chips.