phani sriram interview questions..:)

Here is the interview process that i gone through for my "internship"

There were two rounds

ROUND 1:

This was done by couple of guys (both of them IIIT alumni). Intiially there were general "breaking-ice" kind of questions,
 like how r u , ur semester subjects,ur grades etc. So here are the technical questions

Int: DO you know digital logic ?
Me : Yes, we had the subject as our course work during  bachelor's.

Int: So what were the contents ?
Me: We had digital systems including both combinational circuits and sequential circuits. It included reduction techniques digital logic using boolean algebra , k-maps ....

Int: What do you know about counters ?
Me: Counters are used to provide a seqeuence of numbers using a      predtermined pattern. They can be sync or async / up -  down. Ripple coounter , ring counter are some examples....

4) What does a counter consists of ?
Me:  It consists of flip-flops , T flip flop. The toggling action of t flip flop is used to change the sequence.

5) Can you draw a counter ?
Me : I had drawn a 3 bit ripple counter

6) Can you explain the operation of same
Me. As input is made 1 , on every clock pulse , the flip flop  toggles its precious state. IN such way each flip flop keeps toggling , in this case we have a up counter.

7) Can you write a truth table of JK ff and T ff?
Me : Written the same

8) Can you design a counter for seqence from 1 to 415 (that was what i heard intially)??
Me. I was thinking of how to show the combinational logic required to control 

9) How many ff do we need ?
Me. I said 8 ff..


Int. Why require 8 ff , i want from 1 2 4 1 5 (this time i interpreted it correctly) ??
Me .. Oh Sorry sir , i thought it was 415. OK we need three ff

Int. Ok go on, design te entire circuit?
Me . I may require designing a state table for the same.

INt. Draw the entire circuit ?
Me. i started scribbling on board. I used preset . reset pins  and turned off the ff for the count that i did not want
    from the truth table that got...

Int. But in this way u will not get exact operation of counter , u r just supressing the states ?
Me. Yes sir, for the actual counter i have to go through the  truth table and state table for T ff , and depending on my  output i have to trigger input. I will require some time  sir.

Int. Hmm..ok if it is taking some time then can you design a BCD counter , write a truth table first
Me. I wrote the TT of BCD counter.

Int. OK now design one?
Me. I drawn a 3 T ff counter with the reset pin being activated when count reaches 1010, drwn and - or combinational circuit for the reset logic.

Int. Can you draw a binary to bcd converter.
Me. I used a comparator such that when the four bit binary input reaches 1010 , i added 0110 (decimal 6) to binary number
    to convert into valif BCD number.

Int. I want to have circuit which has one in its output when the inputs binary are divisible  by 3?
Me. How many bits sir?

Int. Take 4 bits
Me. I drawn TT for the same. Then i formed an expression and began reducing it using K map

Int. I want to see your K-map ?
Me. I draw an enlarged version of my K-map

Int. Can you explaing the entries in K-Map
Me. I expalined him k-map procedure

Int. Ok , we are done here.
Me. Thank you sir.



ROUND 2

This was done by senior manager . INterview started with the usual chit - chat. Below are the subject reated questions.

Int. What do you know about computer architecture ?
Me. A computer architecture is based on stored - program concept, in which instruction are stored in memory and are  fetched and decoded, then executed. It has register ,  ALU....

Int. What is a harvard architecture?
Me. Sorry sir , i can.t recollect the exact nature of harward architecture.

Int. Do you have a course on computer architecture
Me. We will be having it in our next sem.

Int. What is pipelining ?
Me. Pipelining is a technique with the help of which the CPU can be used optimally, by implementing various stages of 
    execution of intruction indepedent of each other

Int. Can you explain with example ?
Me. Here is a 3 - pipeline architecture. I draw a 3 stage pipeline , shown fetch - decode - execute at various instances of time. 


INt. oh..k .. what do you about hazards?
Me. It is unwanted discrepency in data.

Int. What are the causes of data hazard ?
Me. STuck-at hazards , because of some short circuit / open  circuit. like stuck at 1 or stck at zero.
    they are caused due to delays.

Int. Do you know any HDL ?
Me. YEs, VHDL

INt. What is full form of VHDL ?
Me. I tld VHDL full form

Int. HOw do you rate yourself in C?
Me. 7, I dont know the advance topics beyonds linked - lists.

Int. and C++
Me. KNow only concepts of OOP but havent implemented C++. so 2- 3.

Int. Any ALP
Me. We had a brief intro to ARM ALP, but it was very basic

Int. Can you say some instrcution of ARM ALP.
Me. Sorry sir , i cannot recollect

Int. Then say you do not know ARM .HOw about x86 ?
Me. YEs sir , i am comfortable with x86.

INt. What else..do you know similation , where have you done  simulation?
Me. YEs sir , we have done simulation using multisim, and in  cadence simulation tools.

Int . Oh so yo  know cadence , how ?
Me. We have done our course project in cadence sir.

Int. K..can write fibonacci numbers?
Me. YEs sir, and i started thinking whether it is a  multiplication or addition..

Int. What are you thinking there is a simple formula
Me. yes sir , i wrote the formula.

Int. K now write number
Me. I wrote the same.

Int. Hmm..k,,then it was nice meeting you, lets see if we have  any opening in layout , or ASIC design.
Me. Ok sir , thank you.