12/28/2016

Electronicshardwareinterviewquestions

HITEQUEST
technicalinterviewQ&Afor
hightechprofessionals

=ElectronicsHardwareQuestions=

InterviewQuestions
ElectronicsHardware
ComputerSoftware
Intelscreeningquestions
QuickThinkingTests
Generalquestions
Phonescreening
questions
SubmityourQorA

AYURSUDHA

Twocapacitorsareconnectedinparallelthroughaswitch.C1=1uF,C2=
0.25uF.
Initiallytheswitchisopen,C1ischargedto10V.Whathappensifwe
closetheswitch?Nolossesinwiresandcapacitors.

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Resources
Technicalarticles
Technicaldiscussion
Engineersshareinfo
Resumeandinterview
Howtogetajobin
SiliconValley
Howmuchareyouworth
onmarket?
Whyyoumayneedan
agent
Breakpoint
WrittenExam
LogicTests
ProfessionalTest
Tomatocompany
Cupofcoffee
Howstockmarketworks
Engineeringjokes

Doyouknowhow
muchyouareworthon
themarket?

Answers&followups

Youhave2switchestocontrolthelightinthelongcorridor.Youwantto
beabletoturnthelightonenteringthecorridorandturnitoffattheother
end.Dothewiringcircuit.
Answers&followups

Thereare3switchesthatcanturnonandoffalightintheroom.Howto
connectthem?

AboutHitequest
AboutHitequest
Homepage

Answers&followups

Ifyoustayedwiththesame
companyforalengthyperiodof
time,thereisabigchanceyou
areunderearning.
More...

RFChannel
Simulator
AddDoppler,delay,
fading,noise&
interferencetoyour
testsignals
rtlogic.com

Whatwillbethevoltagelevelbetweenthetwocapacitors?TheVcc=
10vDC.
SentbyTanh,VLSIengineer

Answers&followups

Suppose,youworkonaspecificationforasystemwithsomedigital
parameters.ThespectablehashasMin,TypandMaxcolomnsforeach
parameter.InwhatcolumnwouldyouputaSetuptimeandaHoldtime?
Answers&followups

Designasimplecircuitbasedoncombinationallogictodoublethe
outputfrequency.

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Electronicshardwareinterviewquestions
Answers&followups

8bitADCwithparalleloutputconvertsaninputsignalintodigital
numbers.Youhavetocomeupwithanideaofacircuit,thatfindsMAX
ofevery10numbersattheoutputoftheADC.
Answers&followups

Implementacomparatorthatcomparestwo2bitnumbersAandB.The
comparatorshouldhave3outputs:A>B,A<B,A=B.Doittwoways:
usingcombinationallogic
usingmultiplexers.WriteHDLcodeforyourschematicatRTLandgate
level.

Answers&followups

Youhavea8bitADCclockingdataoutevery1mS.Designasystem
thatwillsorttheoutputdataandkeepthestatisticsofhowofteneach
binarynumberappearsattheoutputofADC.

Answers&followups

Whattypesofflipflopsdoyouknow?

Answers&followups

ImplementDlatchfrom
RSflipflop
multiplexer.
Answers&followups

HowtoconvertDlatchintoJKlatchandJKlatchintoDlatch?
Answers&followups

Therearetwocountersto16,builtfromnegedgeDFF.Thefirstcircuit
issynchronousandthesecondoneis"ripple"(cascading).Whichcircuit
haslesspropagationdelay?
Answers&followups

Whatisthedifferencebetweenaflipflopandalatch?
WriteanHDLcodefortheirbehavioralmodels.
Answers&followups

DescribetheoperationofaDAC.Whatarethemostimportant
parametersofaDAC?DowereallyneedbothINLandDNLtoestimate
linearity?
Answers&followups

ComparebrieflyalltypesofADCthatyouknow.
Answers&followups

Howwilltheoutputsignalofanidealintegratorlooklikeafter
apositivepulseisappliedtotheinput
aseriesof10positivepulses?
Answers&followups

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Electronicshardwareinterviewquestions

Howtodesignadivideby3counterwithequaldutycycle?
questionfromAnonymous
Answers&followups

Foran8bitflashA/Dconverterwithaninputrangefrom0Vto2.55V,
describewhathappenswhentheinputvoltagechangesfrom1.27Vto
1.28V
Answers&followups

YoursystemhasCPU,ALUandtwo8bitregisters.Thereisnoexternal
memory.Canyouswapthecontenceoftheregisters?
Answers&followups

Weswapped2transistorsinCMOSinverter(putntransistoratthetop
andptransistoratthebottom).Canthiscircuitworkasanoninverting
buffer?
(ByE.Martovetsky,designeng)

Answers&followups

ConvertDlatchintodividerby2.
Whatisthemaxclockfrequencythecircuitcanhandle?
T_setup=6nS
T_hold=2nS
T_propagation=10nS
HintfromHitequest

Thecirclecanrotateclockwiseandback.Useminimumhardwareto
buildacircuittoindicatethedirectionofrotating.

HintfromHitequest

Provide2dimentionalplotofhowtheoutputofdigitalcircuitwilllooklike,
ifonaxisXwesweeptheclockperiod,whileonaxisYwesweepthe
datasetuptime(TclkvsTsetup).

Forchipdesign/test/productengineers:

AnICdevicedrawshighercurrentwhentemperaturegets:
higher?
lower?
HintfromHitequest

Toentertheofficepeoplehavetopassthroughthecorridor.Once
someonegetsintotheofficethelightturnson.Itgoesoffwhennooneis
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Electronicshardwareinterviewquestions

presentintheroom.Therearetworegistrationsensorsinthecorridor.
Buildastatemachinediagramanddesignacircuittocontrolthelight.

AvoltagesourcewithinternalimpedanceZ_source=50OHmis
connectedtoatransmissionlinewithZ=50OHm.Z_loadisalso50
OHm.
Thevoltagesourcegeneratesasinglevoltagestep1V.
Whatwillbethevoltagelevelontheload:

a)2V,becausethereflectedsignalwillbeinphasewiththeincident
signal
b)0.33V,becausethevoltageisdevidedbetweenZ_source,Z_load
andZ_transm.line
c)0.5V,becausethevoltageisdevidedbetweenZ_sourceandZ_load.

HintfromHitequest

DrawatransistorschematicofNORgate,it'slayoutandacrosssection
ofthelayout.
Thisquestionisquitepopularoninterviews.

Thesiliconofanewdevicehasmemoryleak.Whenall"0"arewritten
intoRAM,itreadsbackall"0"whithoutanyproblem.Whenall"1"are
written,only80%ofmemorycellsarereadbackcorrectly.Whatcanbe
possiblytheproblemwiththeRAM?
M.Altshuler,productengineer.

DrawaCMOSinverter.WhydoesCMOStechnologydominateinVLSI
manufacturing?
L.Backer,DFTengineer

DesignaFIFO1bytewideand13wordsdeep.TheFIFOisinterfacing2
blockswithdifferentclocks.OntherisingedgeofclktheFIFOstores
dataandincrementswptr.Ontherisingedgeofclkbthedataisputon
theboutput,therptrpointstothenextdatatoberead.
IftheFIFOisempty,theboutputdataisnotvalid.WhentheFIFOisfull
theexistingdatashouldnotbeoverriden.
Whenrst_Nisasserted,theFIFOpointersareasynchronouslyreset.
modulefifo1(full,empty,clk,clkb,ain,bout,rst_N)
output[7:0]bout
input[7:0]ain
inputclk,clkb,rst_N
outputempty,full
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Electronicshardwareinterviewquestions

reg[3:0]wptr,rptr
...
endmodule
HintfromHitequest

WhatdoesCMOSstandfor?VLSI?ASIC?
ThiswasintheseriesofquickquestionsintheinterviewatAnalogDevices.Weuse
theseabbreviationsdaily,butnoteveryonerememberswhattheystandfor.
HintfromHitequest

DesignaCOMBINATIONALcircuitthatcandividetheclockfrequencyby
2.
Answers&followups

Designa2bitup/downcounterwithclearusinggates.(Noverilogor
vhdl)

Wehaveacircularwheelwithhalfpaintedblackandtheotherhalf
paintedwhite.Thereare2censorsmounted45degreeapartatthe
surfaceofthiswheel(nottouchingthewheel)whichgivea"1"forblack
and"0"forwhitepassingunderthem.Designacircuittodetectwhich
waythewheelismoving.Cannotassumeanyfixedpositionforstart.

WehaveaFIFOwhichclocksdatainat100mhzandclocksdataoutat
80mhz.Ontheinputthereareonly80databitsinanyorderduringeach
100clocks.Inotherwords,a100inputclockwillcarryonly80databits,
andtheothertwentyclockscarrynodata(dataisscatteredinany
order).HowbigtheFIFOneedstobetoavoiddataover/underrun.
FollowUps

InsteadofspecifyingSETUPandHOLDtime,canwejustspecifya
SETUPtimefor'1'andaSETUPtimefor'0'?
Followups

Heresomehardwaredigitaldesignspecificquestions,offeredbySuhas:
(1)Whenwillyouusealatchandaflipflopinasequentialdesign?
(2)Designa1bitfulladderusingadecoderand2"or"gates?
(3)Youhaveacircuitoperatingat20MHzand5voltsupply.Whatwould
youdotoreducethepowerconsumptioninthecircuitreducethe
operatingfrequencyof20Mhzorreducethepowersupplyof5Voltsand
why?
(4)Inanmostransistor,howdoesthecurrentflowsfromdraintosource
insaturationregionwhenthechannelispinchedoff?
(5)InaSRAMcircuit,howdoyoudesigntheprechargeandhowdoyou
sizeit?
(6)InaPLL,whatelements(likeXORgatesorFlipflops)canbeusedto
designthephasedetector?
(7)Whilesynthesisofadesignusingsynopsysdesigncompiler,whydo
youspecifyinputandoutputdelays?
(8)Whatdifferencedoyouseeinthetimingreportsforapropogated
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clockandanidealclock?
(9)WhatistimeborrowingrelatedtoStatictiminganaylsisinPrimetime?

Whatisthepurposeofadiodenexttorelayonschematics?

Answers&followups

Designacombinationalcircuit,thatmultipliesaninputdecimaldigit
representedinBCDby5.TheoutputistoberepresentedinBCD.Show
thattheoutputscanbeobtainedfromtheinputlineswithoutusingany
logicgates.

Igotthisquestionontheinterviewtothecompanythatmakesflashmemorycontrollers.
Theyletmetakeithomeandthinkforafewdays.A.M.

Thereisasystemwith4flashmemorybanks.Whendatacomestothe
system,itwillberandomlysenttooneofthe4banks.Thesystemhasa
featurecalledNativeCommandQueuing(NCQ)whichallowsthehostto
sendmultiplecommandsatatime.
Thenumberofcommandssentatatimeiscalledthequeuedepth.With
aqueuedepthof1,only1of4memorybankswillbeactive.
Withaqueuedepthof2,weexpect2of4flashmemorybankstobe
activeexceptinthecasewhenbothcommandsaretothesamebank.
Thequestionis,whatistheexpectednumberofflashmemorybanks
thatwouldbeactive,givenqueuedepthsof:
2,4,8,and16?
Answers&followups
R.K

HowdoyousynchronizedifferentCLKSpeedsinasystem?

R.K

TwoNChannelMOSFETsareconnectedinseriesandareconnected
betweenVccandGND.WillturningonthetopMOSFETturnonthe
BOTTOMone?Ifyes,Why?
Whatisasolutiontothisproblem?

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