Samsung R&D Hardware Interview Questions and Answers

To divide the frequency of the clock by two, use a flip-flop circuit.

• Use a D flip-flop or a JK flip-flop.

• Connect the output of the flip-flop to the input of the clock signal.

• The output of the flip-flop will be half the frequency of the input clock signal.

Design a sequential circuit to detect the sequence 001001 and reduce the minimum number of states.

• Use a state diagram to visualize the circuit

• Implement the circuit using flip-flops and logic gates

• Use Karnaugh maps to simplify the circuit

• Consider using a Mealy or Moore machine

To divide the frequency of the clock by three, use a counter with a divide-by-three function.

• Use a counter IC with a divide-by-three function

• Connect the clock signal to the counter input

• Use the output of the counter as the new clock signal

FSM stands for Finite State Machine. Mealy and Moore machines are two types of FSMs with differences in output.

• FSM is a mathematical model used to describe the behavior of a system with a finite number of states.

• Mealy machines produce outputs based on both the current state and the inputs.

• Moore machines produce outputs based only on the current state.

• Mealy machines have more flexibility in generating outputs, while Moore machines are simpler to design and analyze.

• Example: In ...read more

Answering a question about CMOS inverter circuit and its transfer characteristics.

• The CMOS inverter circuit consists of a PMOS and an NMOS transistor connected in series.

• The transfer characteristics of the inverter can be derived by plotting the output voltage against the input voltage.

• The regions of operation of the inverter are the cutoff region, the linear region, and the saturation region.

• In the cutoff region, both transistors are off and the output voltage is high.

• In the...read more

CMOS is a type of semiconductor technology used in digital circuits.

• CMOS stands for Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor.

• It uses both p-type and n-type MOSFETs to achieve low power consumption and high noise immunity.

• Advantages include low power consumption, high noise immunity, and compatibility with digital circuits.

• Disadvantages include higher cost and lower speed compared to other technologies.

• BJT (Bipolar Junction Transistor) is an alternative technology that is faste...read more

FPGA stands for Field Programmable Gate Array. It is a type of integrated circuit that can be programmed after manufacturing.

• FPGAs offer flexibility and can be reprogrammed for different applications

• They can be used to accelerate certain tasks such as image processing or cryptography

• FPGAs can be more power-efficient than traditional CPUs for certain applications

• Examples of FPGA manufacturers include Xilinx and Intel (formerly Altera)