Interview focus areas:
2 – 3 stages:

  1. written exam
    o verilog, digital design
    o aptitude
    o SV
  2. Technical interview – 2 rounds
    o how to explain things
    o Digital
    o CMOS basics
    o Verilog
    o SV
    o UVM basics
    o protocols : AXI, AHB, Ethernet, USB
    o Testbench concepts
    o testcase development
    o Misc: UNIX, scripting, tools
  3. HR interview
    o soft skills

f(0,6,4,5,12,15,17,20,31,48,61,64)

Digital Design:

  1. ASIC, FPGA
  1. combinational logic
    o basic gates
    o and, or, nand, nor, xor, xnor, buffer, not
    o xor’s can also be used as comparator
    xor(1,0) = 1, xor(0,1) = 1, xor(0,0)= 0
    o truth tables
    o karnaguh maps
    o used to reduce the logic
    o demorgan theorems
    o AB + A(~B) = A (A(B+~B)) = (A1) = A
    o using a gate to create another gate
    – use nand to create and
    – use nand to mux2x1
    – use and to create nand //NOT POSSIBLE
    – use mux to create various gates(and, nand, or, nor, xor, xnor, buffer, inverter)
    – use mux to create bigger mux
    – ex: 2×1 to create 4×1 mux
    o NAND is universal gate
    o Why NAND is preferred over NOR
    o priority encoder, decoder
    o adder, substractor, comparator
    o given a code, write the equivalant synthesized gate level diagram
    o load, drive streghtnh, fan in, fan out
  2. seqeuncetial logic
    o flipflop
    o latch
    o prove that DFF is +latch followed by -latch
    o exitation table for flipflops
    o D, T, SR, JK
    o state machines
    o Mealy state machine
    o Moore state machine
    o given a design requirement, implment it using state machine diagram
    o pattern detector
    o registers, flipflops
    o status registers
    o control registers
    o bit addressed, byte addressed, word addressed
    o given a design example, how many flipflops are required to implement the design or state machine
    o EX: TLC (RED, YEL, GRN)
    o RED: 50 – 150 sec (bits: 8)
    o YEL: 10 – 40 sec (bits: 6)
    o GRN: 20 – 60 sec (bits: 6)
    o total bits required: 8
    o 8, 6, 6 are used for counting the time value
    o various types of flipflops
    o D FF
    o T FF
    o JK FF
    o SR FF
    o various types of latches
    o SR
    o clock, reset
    o Crystal, VCO, PLL
    o XO frequency (Crystal Oscillator frequency)
    o clock distribution, multiplexing
    o timing diagram for flipflop, latches
    o synchornous reset, asynchornous reset
    o synchornous reset : Reset only takes effect at +edge of clock
    o asynchornous reset : Reset takes effect any time it is applied(irrespective of edge of clock)
    o setup time, hold time
    o how to fix set time violation, hold time violation
    o using basic sequential elements, to create bigger sequential circuits
    o counter : biffer sequential circuit
    o how do decide on number of flops required
    o clock generation
    o clock freqeuncy, timeperiod
    o jitter
    o using one clock to generate another clock of different freqeuncy
    o ex: use 50MHz clock to generate 100MHz clock
    o ex: use 50MHz clock to generate 25MHz clock
    o ex: use 50MHz clock to generate 50/3MHz clock
    o divided by 3, by 4 clocks
    o memories
    o ports (clk, rst, addr, data, wr_rd)
    o front door access
    o back door access
    o what is means by hiearchical access
    o how do we check if there is a fault in specific location of memory
    o ex: fault (address lines are tied wrongly)
    o Front door write, back door read
    o Back door write, front door read
    o clock domain crosssing
    o CDC always leads to meta stability
    o synchronizers : 2 stage, 3 stage synchronizers are used to address the metastability
    o race around condition
    o level shifters , isolation cells (voltage domain, clock domain, power domain)

Ex:

  1. NAND -> AND (NAND followed by NAND(output of first nand is inputs to both)
    NAND -> OR (2 NAND(same A, same B), output is input in 2nd stage of NAND)
    NOR -> OR (NOR, followed by NOR, ouptu of 1st stage, is given to both inputs)
    otherwsie, tie one of teh inputs to ‘0’
    2×1 MUX -> NAND (NAND(A, 0, B(sel)) -> NAND(0,1, NAND_OP(SEL))
    2×1 MUX -> AND (NAND(A, 0, B(sel)))
    2×1 MUX -> NOR (NAND(1(1), A(0), B(sel)) -> NAND(0,1, NAND_OP(SEL))
    2×1 MUX -> OR (NAND(1(1), A(0), B(sel)))
    2X1 MUX -> Inverter
    2X1 MUX -> Buffer
    2X1 MUX -> XOR
    2X1 MUX -> XNOR

4.
What does below code synthesize to. Explain below codes with synthesized diagrams:

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