
Preparing for Integrated Circuit (IC) Design Technical Interviews
50 Questions to Sharpen Your Circuit Intuition
By: Song ) Liu
Hardcover | 15 September 2026 | Edition Number 1
At a Glance
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Develop circuit intuition through fifty real technical interview questions
Circuit intuition separates successful IC designers from those who struggle in interviews and real-world projects. Preparing for Integrated Circuit (IC) Design Technical Interviews: 50 Questions to Sharpen Your Circuit Intuition connects classroom equations to practical design thinking through systematic two-part analyses. Each question receives both intuitive and quantitative treatment, accelerating the transition from graduate to seasoned circuit designer.
Six chapters progress from impedance analysis through amplifiers, bias and reference circuits, discrete-time analog circuits covering switched capacitor and switched inductor topologies, and digital circuitry from an analog perspective including inverters, D flip-flops, ring oscillators, and clock dividers. The final chapter addresses the often-neglected skill of circuit layout preparation for interviews.
The author also provides:
- Four appendices covering device equations, circuit theorems, s-domain analysis for readers without a control system background, and circuit analysis examples to sharpen fundamental skills
- Comprehensive coverage spanning analog, mixed-signal, and digital domains representing the major portion of IC design interview content
- Detailed treatment of switched-capacitor circuits, comparators, and switched inductor-circuits in the context of discrete-time analog applications such as data converters and power ICs
- Analysis of phase lock loops and digital phase frequency detectors from the analog designerâs perspective for mixed-signal positions
- Practical circuit layout guidance addressing a critical but frequently overlooked component of technical interview preparation
Analog and mixed-signal IC designers preparing for technical interviews will find systematic guidance for developing the intuitive skills interviewers expect. Graduate students, senior undergraduates, and junior engineers gain accelerated pathways from textbook knowledge to professional-level circuit analysis capabilities.
About the Author xi
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xvii
1 Impedance 1
Question 1 Input and output resistance of a transimpedance amplifier (TIA) 1
Question 2 Input capacitance of a source follower 5
Question 3 Input capacitance of a differential pair 9
Question 4 Output resistance of a tied-gate current source 11
Question 5 Folded cascode amplifier and input Miller effect reduction 13
Question 6 Impedance of a cross-coupled load 17
2 Amplifiers â" Open-loop and Closed-loop 23
Question 7 Stability of an uncompensated two-stage op-amp 24
Question 8 Compensation for a two-stage op-amp, pole splitting 26
Question 9 Nyquist stability criterion and conditional stability 31
Question 10 Device noise contribution in a folded cascode amplifier 37
Question 11 Slew rate limitations of a two-stage op-amp 44
Question 12 Distortion in a common-source amplifier due to device nonlinearity 47
Question 13 Common-emitter amplifier (BJT) with emitter degeneration 50
Question 14 Amplifier input common-mode range and distortion 53
Question 15 Common mode feedback control (CMFB) in fully differential amplifiers 56
Question 16 Frequency response of two op-amp based low-pass filters 61
Question 17 Feedback factors of inverting amplifiers and unity-gain buffers 65
Question 18 Power supply rejection ratio (PSRR) of a voltage regulator 70
Question 19 Power optimization of multistage open-loop amplifiers 77
Question 20 Frequency response of a source follower 81
3 Bias and References 85
Question 21 Designing a precision current mirror 85
Question 22 Degeneration in current mirrors 89
Question 23 Impact of resistance in current mirrors 92
Question 24 Bandgap reference basics 97
Question 25 Stability of beta-multiplier references 102
4 Switched-capacitor Circuits and Comparators 107
Question 26 Input impedance and kickback noise of switched-capacitor circuits 108
Question 27 Sizing the switch for better linearity and less charge injection 112
Question 28 Bottom plate sampling and signal-dependent charge injection 118
Question 29 Requirements of the amplifier in a charge-transfer track/hold circuit 120
Question 30 Impact of the amplifier input capacitance in switched-capacitor circuits 126
Question 31 Thermal noise in switched-capacitor circuits 129
Question 32 Switched-capacitor common-mode feedback (CMFB) circuits 134
Question 33 Comparator â" regenerative latch 137
Question 34 Comparator â" preamplifier 143
Question 35 Comparator â" offset cancellation (IOS) 147
Question 36 Switched-inductor circuits â" buck converters 151
5 Digital Circuits from an Analog Perspective 161
Question 37 Inverter-based ring oscillators 162
Question 38 Inverter optimization of propagation delay and duty cycle distortion 164
Question 39 Designing buffers for driving long RC lines 168
Question 40 Inverter switching current and power consumption 171
Question 41 Master/slave D flip-flops and setup/hold time 176
Question 42 Clock divider with D flip-flops 179
Question 43 Digital phase-frequency detectors and phase-locked loops (PLLs) 181
Question 44 Metastability in digital systems 189
6 Circuit Layout Techniques 193
Question 45 Transistor layout for parasitic reduction 194
Question 46 Interdigitation for matching 196
Question 47 Layout of decoupling capacitors 199
Question 48 Substrate/well contact and latch-up 201
Question 49 Shielding in layout â" grounded or not grounded? Which ground? 205
Question 50 Optimizing the padframe for power and ground 211
Appendix 1 Device Equations 217
Section 1 MOSFET (long-channel) equations 217
Section 2 Bipolar transistor (BJT) equations 220
Section 3 Diode (PN junction) equations 224
Section 4 Resistor, capacitor, and inductor equations 225
Appendix 2 Circuit Theorems 227
Section 1 Kirchhoff's circuit laws 227
Section 2 Th©venin's theorem and Norton's theorem 229
Section 3 The superposition theorem 231
Section 4 Miller's theorem 232
Appendix 3 Circuit Analysis in the Complex Frequency Domain (s-domain) 235
Section 1 Laplace transform and transfer functions 235
Section 2 First-order systems 239
Section 3 Transfer function of feedback systems 241
Section 4 Second-order systems 242
Section 5 S-domain and frequency domain 246
Appendix 4 Basic Circuit Analysis Examples 251
Section 1 Voltage and current dividers 251
Section 2 RC circuits â" transient and frequency response 255
Section 3 Basic amplifiers 260
Section 4 Basic op-amp based closed-loop circuits 268
Section 5 Types of negative feedback in amplifier circuits 273
Section 6 Circuit noise fundamentals 278
Section 7 Basic digital circuits 286
Index 295
ISBN: 9781394431076
ISBN-10: 1394431074
Available: 15th September 2026
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Audience: Professional and Scholarly
Publisher: Wiley
Country of Publication: GB
Edition Number: 1
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