1. A search engine device, comprising: an array of comparator cells configured to process a first plurality of nodes of a Patricia trie in parallel during a search operation by evaluating at the same time, all of a first plurality of distinguishing bit identifiers associated with respective ones of the first plurality of nodes of the Patricia trie in parallel with each other and in parallel with a corresponding second plurality of bits of an applied search key, to thereby generate a match signal that identifies a location of a matching search key candidate within the Patricia trie; and a priority encoder configured to generate a match index in response to the match signal.