A 2-week hardware interview study plan

• AN-01 The three op-amp rules ● — free answer online
• AN-15 Frequency response of L, C and LC tanks ● — book p. 62 · notes
• AN-13 Series RLC driven by a current ramp ● — book p. 58 · notes

• AN-02 Inverting gain of −10, non-ideal ● — free answer online
• AN-03 Inverting vs non-inverting ● — book p. 38 · notes
• AN-14 Thevenin and a black box ●● — book p. 60 · notes

• PC-01 Choosing a capacitor type ● — book p. 12 · notes
• PC-02 MLCC field failure at cold ●● — book p. 14 · notes
• PC-03 Ferrite bead selection ●● — book p. 16 · notes

• PC-05 Schottky reverse recovery ● — book p. 20 · notes
• PC-06 Zener in a divider ● — book p. 22 · notes
• PC-07 MOSFET loss trade-off ●● — book p. 24 · notes

• DC-01 Square wave into RC filters ● — book p. 68 · notes
• DC-02 Anti-aliasing filter ●● — book p. 70 · notes
• DC-07 Thermal and Johnson noise in numbers ● — book p. 80 · notes

Review: redo the three questions you found hardest — out loud, no notes, then check.

Rest. If you want one thing: read one free full answer you have not seen yet.

• AN-09 Op-amp driving an ADC oscillates ●● — book p. 50 · notes
• AN-10 Op-amp noise sources ● — book p. 52 · notes
• AN-08 Photodiode TIA with a 10 MΩ feedback resistor ●● — book p. 48 · notes

• PCB-03 Analog/digital partitioning ●● — free answer online
• PCB-04 Top-layer vs inner-layer routing ● — book p. 252 · notes
• PCB-01 Stack-up for a mixed-signal board ●●● — free answer online

• EMC-01 Multiple grounds, star ground, isolation ●● — book p. 228 · notes
• EMC-07 Loop area and radiated emission ●● — book p. 240 · notes
• EMC-04 Shielding a cable against E and H fields ●● — book p. 234 · notes

• MD-01 How a scope probe works ● — book p. 264 · notes
• MD-02 Measuring supply ripple and noise ●● — book p. 266 · notes
• MD-06 Bringing up a new board ●● — book p. 274 · notes

• MD-04 Bench debug: a silent buzzer oscillator ●● — book p. 270 · notes
• PCB-07 Designing for yield ●● — book p. 258 · notes
• AN-11 NTC front end for a battery pack ●●● — book p. 54 · notes

Mock: ask a friend to pick four questions from your list at random — 10 minutes each, whiteboard or paper.

Write your six stories (a hard bug, a disagreement, a failure, leading without authority, a schedule crunch, mentoring) — situation, action, impact, learning.

• PW-01 How a buck converter works ● — free answer online
• PW-02 Synchronous vs non-synchronous ● — book p. 86 · notes
• PW-06 Switching frequency trade-offs ● — book p. 94 · notes

• PW-03 CCM vs DCM ●● — book p. 88 · notes
• PW-04 Choosing the inductor ●● — free answer online
• PC-08 Inductor soft vs hard saturation ●● — book p. 26 · notes

• PW-05 Choosing a buck regulator IC ●● — book p. 92 · notes
• PW-07 LDO vs switcher ● — book p. 96 · notes
• PC-07 MOSFET loss trade-off ●● — book p. 24 · notes

• PW-09 Which loop radiates — buck or boost ●● — book p. 100 · notes
• PW-18 Snubber on the switch node ●● — book p. 118 · notes
• PC-01 Choosing a capacitor type ● — book p. 12 · notes

• PI-01 How many decoupling caps? ●● — free answer online
• PI-02 Ground bounce ● — free answer online
• PI-03 Why use thick, wide traces? ● — book p. 130 · notes

Review: redo the three questions you found hardest — out loud, no notes, then check.

Rest. If you want one thing: read one free full answer you have not seen yet.

• PW-10 Feed-forward capacitor ●● — book p. 102 · notes
• PW-11 Measuring phase margin ●● — book p. 104 · notes
• PW-12 Type III compensation and the RHP zero ●●● — book p. 106 · notes

• PW-08 Battery-powered power tree ●● — book p. 98 · notes
• PW-16 Power sequencing ●● — book p. 114 · notes
• PW-20 eFuse vs PTC fuse; inrush ●● — book p. 122 · notes

• PI-04 Automotive-grade robustness ●● — book p. 132 · notes
• PI-05 Inrush when hot-plugging ●● — book p. 134 · notes
• PW-19 Back-EMF and regenerative energy ●● — book p. 120 · notes

• PW-14 Bicycle headlight LED driver ●● — book p. 110 · notes
• PW-15 −30 V from +5 V ●● — book p. 112 · notes
• MD-02 Measuring supply ripple and noise ●● — book p. 266 · notes

• PW-13 Software-set bias from −2.5 V to +2.5 V ●●● — book p. 108 · notes
• PW-17 48 V power tree for AI servers ●●● — book p. 116 · notes
• AN-01 The three op-amp rules ● — free answer online

Mock: ask a friend to pick four questions from your list at random — 10 minutes each, whiteboard or paper.

Write your six stories (a hard bug, a disagreement, a failure, leading without authority, a schedule crunch, mentoring) — situation, action, impact, learning.

• SI-01 When is a trace a transmission line? ● — free answer online
• SI-02 Reflections and the reflection coefficient ● — free answer online
• SI-03 Overdriven vs underdriven lines ●● — book p. 142 · notes

• SI-04 Termination choices ●● — book p. 144 · notes
• SI-05 Microstrip vs stripline ● — book p. 146 · notes
• SI-06 Changing layers with a controlled-impedance line ●● — book p. 148 · notes

• SI-07 Crossing a plane split ●● — book p. 150 · notes
• SI-08 Crosstalk: NEXT vs FEXT ●● — book p. 152 · notes
• SI-16 Length matching ●● — book p. 168 · notes

• SI-09 Loss above 1 GHz ●● — book p. 154 · notes
• SI-10 Via stubs and back-drilling ●● — book p. 156 · notes
• SI-11 Differential impedance, odd and even mode ●● — book p. 158 · notes

• HS-01 Why 8b/10b? ● — book p. 172 · notes
• HS-02 Embedded clock vs parallel bus ● — book p. 174 · notes
• HS-13 Serial CDR ●● — book p. 196 · notes

Review: redo the three questions you found hardest — out loud, no notes, then check.

Rest. If you want one thing: read one free full answer you have not seen yet.

• HS-03 USB 2.0 vs USB 3.x physical layer ●● — book p. 176 · notes
• HS-04 PCIe essentials ●● — book p. 178 · notes
• HS-06 Equalization: CTLE, FFE, DFE ●● — book p. 182 · notes

• HS-05 PCIe 6 and PAM4 ●●● — book p. 180 · notes
• SI-12 Glass-weave effect ●●● — book p. 160 · notes
• SI-13 Jitter taxonomy ●● — book p. 162 · notes

• SI-14 Eye diagrams ●● — book p. 164 · notes
• SI-15 TDR ●● — book p. 166 · notes
• HS-10 10 Gb/s channel design ●● — book p. 190 · notes

• HS-07 MIPI D-PHY vs C-PHY ●● — book p. 184 · notes
• HS-08 DisplayPort / eDP basics ●● — book p. 186 · notes
• HS-09 SPMI vs I²C ●● — book p. 188 · notes

• HS-11 LPDDR vs DDR; length matching without an app note ●● — book p. 192 · notes
• HS-12 Multi-gigabit video through a moving joint ●●● — book p. 194 · notes
• HS-14 AI accelerator interconnects ●●● — book p. 198 · notes

Mock: ask a friend to pick four questions from your list at random — 10 minutes each, whiteboard or paper.

Write your six stories (a hard bug, a disagreement, a failure, leading without authority, a schedule crunch, mentoring) — situation, action, impact, learning.

• EM-01 I²C vs SPI ● — free answer online
• EM-02 Sizing I²C pull-ups ●● — free answer online
• EM-12 Debouncing and robust inputs ● — book p. 224 · notes

• EM-03 Drive a solenoid valve from a GPIO ● — book p. 206 · notes
• EM-08 Direction from a rotary knob ●● — book p. 216 · notes
• EM-07 MCU peripherals ● — book p. 214 · notes

• EM-04 Power-on to main(): what takes time? ●● — book p. 208 · notes
• EM-05 Reset pin design ●● — book p. 210 · notes
• EM-06 Metastability ●● — book p. 212 · notes

• AN-01 The three op-amp rules ● — free answer online
• AN-02 Inverting gain of −10, non-ideal ● — free answer online
• DC-03 Sample-and-hold vs setup-and-hold ● — book p. 72 · notes

• DC-02 Anti-aliasing filter ●● — book p. 70 · notes
• DC-04 ADC design considerations ●● — book p. 74 · notes
• DC-05 Inconsistent readings from a sensor array ●●● — book p. 76 · notes

Review: redo the three questions you found hardest — out loud, no notes, then check.

Rest. If you want one thing: read one free full answer you have not seen yet.

• PW-07 LDO vs switcher ● — book p. 96 · notes
• PW-08 Battery-powered power tree ●● — book p. 98 · notes
• PW-16 Power sequencing ●● — book p. 114 · notes

• EMC-02 ESD near an enclosure opening ●● — book p. 230 · notes
• EMC-03 ESD on USB 3 vs USB 2 ●● — book p. 232 · notes
• PI-02 Ground bounce ● — free answer online

• EM-10 Processor or FPGA selection ●●● — book p. 220 · notes
• EM-11 DSP basics: FFT, FIR, IIR ●● — book p. 222 · notes
• HS-09 SPMI vs I²C ●● — book p. 188 · notes

• MD-01 How a scope probe works ● — book p. 264 · notes
• MD-06 Bringing up a new board ●● — book p. 274 · notes
• MD-04 Bench debug: a silent buzzer oscillator ●● — book p. 270 · notes

• EM-09 Elevator-door state machine ●● — book p. 218 · notes
• SD-04 Smart pet-collar tag ●●● — book p. 290 · notes
• SD-01 Wireless game controller ●● — book p. 284 · notes

Mock: ask a friend to pick four questions from your list at random — 10 minutes each, whiteboard or paper.

Write your six stories (a hard bug, a disagreement, a failure, leading without authority, a schedule crunch, mentoring) — situation, action, impact, learning.

• SD-01 Wireless game controller ●● — book p. 284 · notes
• SD-08 Reviewing someone's schematic ●●● — book p. 298 · notes
• SD-10 Choosing parts for a product that ships for years ●● — book p. 302 · notes

• SD-02 Multirail power telemetry ●●● — book p. 286 · notes
• SD-03 Powering a remote FPGA card over a harness ●●● — book p. 288 · notes
• PW-08 Battery-powered power tree ●● — book p. 98 · notes

• SD-04 Smart pet-collar tag ●●● — book p. 290 · notes
• SD-06 Sizing a mixed sensor hub ●● — book p. 294 · notes
• EM-10 Processor or FPGA selection ●●● — book p. 220 · notes

• SD-05 Matching microphones at volume ●●● — book p. 292 · notes
• SD-07 Adding a radio to a full product ●●● — book p. 296 · notes
• MD-07 Rare port failure at end-of-line test ●●● — book p. 276 · notes

• SD-09 Debugging a noisy, misbehaving system ●●● — book p. 300 · notes
• MD-08 Failure-analysis toolchain ●● — book p. 278 · notes
• PCB-07 Designing for yield ●● — book p. 258 · notes

Review: redo the three questions you found hardest — out loud, no notes, then check.

Rest. If you want one thing: read one free full answer you have not seen yet.

• PW-16 Power sequencing ●● — book p. 114 · notes
• PW-17 48 V power tree for AI servers ●●● — book p. 116 · notes
• PI-04 Automotive-grade robustness ●● — book p. 132 · notes

• PCB-01 Stack-up for a mixed-signal board ●●● — free answer online
• PCB-02 4 layers with no solid ground ●●● — book p. 248 · notes
• SI-09 Loss above 1 GHz ●● — book p. 154 · notes

• HS-14 AI accelerator interconnects ●●● — book p. 198 · notes
• EMC-08 Laser eye safety ●●● — book p. 242 · notes
• DC-06 Low-power biopotential front end ●●● — book p. 78 · notes

• BH-01 Tell me about a project ● — book p. 306 · notes
• BH-02 A failure ●● — book p. 308 · notes
• BH-03 Disagreement ●● — book p. 310 · notes

• BH-04 Working with other functions ●● — book p. 312 · notes
• BH-05 Staying current ● — book p. 314 · notes
• BH-06 Why this company? ● — book p. 316 · notes

Mock: ask a friend to pick four questions from your list at random — 10 minutes each, whiteboard or paper.

Write your six stories (a hard bug, a disagreement, a failure, leading without authority, a schedule crunch, mentoring) — situation, action, impact, learning.