Important topics for placements- Core Electronics

1. Digital Electronics (asked in almost all the companies)

 Logic gates, MUX, Encoder, Decoder, Adders, ROM, PLA, PAL etc. ( Tocci, Morris Mano)

 Static Hazards. (http://www.doe.carleton.ca/~shams/ELEC3500/hazards.pdf)

 Number systems, inter-conversion & different encoding schemes with their

advantages/applications (like One-hot, One-cold, Gray, etc.)

 Flip-Flops, Latches, Counters, Registers(Synchronous & Asynchronous)

 Sequence Detector/Generator.

 Problems like Race-Around, Glitches, Limitation on Max. Clock frequency & their remedies.

 Clock Frequency Divider (by even, odd, fraction) with different duty cycles. (Google Search – Clock
Dividers by Made easy Mohit Arora).
 Static Timing Analysis (Setup-Hold time violations, Remedy, Meta-stability,
etc.)(http://www.vlsi-expert.com/2011/04/static-timing-analysis-sta-basic-part3a.html)

(Asked specifically in Tejas Networks)

 Edge detector circuit, Circuit synthesis from input-output waveforms.

 FSM ( Mealy & Moore) - Comparison, Advantages & Disadvantages.- Conversion from Mealy to Moore & vice
versa.

 IC Logic Families (DTL and TTL)

 Sources:
i. Digital systems Principles and Applications- Ronald J. Tocci
ii. Digital Systems- Morris Mano
iii. Digital Principles and Applications - Malvino

2. Analog Electronics (asked in almost all the companies)

 Pn junction working (in detail)

 Solid State Electronic Devices 


Energy Bands(pn junction diode, bjt, mosfet), Charge Carriers.

MOS capacitances.

Steps involved in fabrication process

 Diodes

Types, Breakdown mechanisms, circuits.

Different models.

Clippers-Clampers-Rectifiers
 Wave-Shaping Circuits

Zener diode, PIN diode, LED

 BJT

Construction & Working, Current mechanisms.

Different Models (T,pi, Ebers’ Moll, etc.)

Biasing circuits, Thermal runaway, Early Effect.

Current Mirrors (Wilson, Widlar)

Differential amplifier

 MOSFET

Construction & Working.
Short Channel Effects

Biasing circuits

Body effect

Differences from BJT.

 Oscillators(wein bridge, RC phase shift, Hartley and colpitt)

 Power amplifiers (classes of amplifiers)

 CMOS VLSI Design (Sung Mo Kang, Rabaey, Sedra)

o NMOS, PMOS logic families.


o PTL, Transmission Gate, Logic degradation, pseudo nmos.

o CMOS – Construction & Working.

o Static & Dynamic CMOS families (Basic idea).

o Power dissipation (Static & Dynamic)

 Interconnect wire models- Elmore delay model

 SRAM(1T and 3T), DRAM(1T and 3T)

 Operational Amplifiers

o ADC-DAC

o Linear & Non-Linear Circuits

o Basic Idea of various stages in OPAMP’s internal circuitry

o Various Characteristics of an OPAMP

o Instrumentation amplifier

o Applications of OPAMP in various circuits

 555timers & Multivibrators


 Filters (active and passive)

 Sources:
  Microelectronic circuits – Sedera and Smith
 Integrated electronics – J. Millman
 Solid state electronic devices – Ben G. Streetman
 CMOS digital integrated circuit – Sung Mo Kang
 Digital Integrated Circuits - Rabaey



3. Microprocessors (specifically asked in companies like Qualcomm, C-dot and other PSUs.)
 8085 

1. Architecture & Basic Assembly Programming.

2. Addressing Modes.

3. Interrupts

4. Stack and subroutine

 8086 

5. Basic Architecture.

6. Differences from 8085.

7. Addressing Modes.

 Sources :
i. Microprocessor Architecture, Programming, and Applications with the 8085 – Ramesh Gaonkar
ii. Barry B. Brey’s ppt for 8086

4. Computer Architecture (specifically asked in companies like Qualcomm and Intel)

 Harvard & Von-Neumann.

 RISC vs CISC (with examples)

 Hardwired & Microprogrammed control logic.

 Memory Hierarchy.

 Cache Hierarchy and virtual memory

 Cache performance

 Paging techniques

 Pipelining & Hazards. (basics)

 FIFO Buffer

 Memory interfacing

 Sources:
 Computer Architecture- Morris Mano
 Computer Architecture- Kai Hwang

5. Networks & Control System (specifically asked in companies like TI, Brahmos and PSUs)
 RLC series-parallel & all related concepts

 Network Theorems & their applications in solving circuits

 Steady state, Transient response

 Frequency Response

 Stability- Routh-Hurwitz, Nyquist, Bode, Root Locus

 Concept of Lead-Lag and PID controller

 State space analysis (Brahmos)

 Sources:
 Fundamentals of electrical circuits- Sadiku
 Engineering circuit analysis- Hayt and Kemmerly
 Circuit theory – A. Chakrabarti (follow this book only for practicing problems and not for concept
building)
 Modern Control Engineering- Ogata or Gopal and Nagrath
 Again, do not rely on B.S. Manke’s book for concepts

6. Communication (specifically asked in companies like Qualcomm, C-dot, Airtel, Kalkitech,

etc.)

 Baseband vs broadband communication

 Analog and digital baseband tx

 Analog and digital broadband tx

 Analog Communication

o Noise (types, mathematical modelling, colours and effects).


o Receivers (SHR)

o Modulation & Demodulation (AM and FM).

o PPM, PAM, PWM circuits & inter-conversions.

 Digital Communication

o Modulation schemes & their constellation diagrams.(ASK, PSK, FSK, MSK, GMSK,QAM{4point, 8
point,16 point, 32 point})

o Why Digital is better?

o Line & Channel Encoding.

o Shannon’s Channel capacity theorem

o Aliasing effect

o Nyquist criteria

o ISI and eye diagram

o PCM, sampling, quantisation, quantisation noise and error, slope overloading, threshold

o Spread spectrum (FHSS, DHSS)

o Multiple access techniques(FDMA, TDMA, CDMA, SDMA, WDMA, OFDMA)

o Multiplexing techniques (FDM, TDM)

  Sources:
 Modern Digital and Analog Communication Systems- B. P. Lathi
 Communication Systems- Simon Haykin
 Data Communication and Networking - Forouzan 


7. Antenna (Basics, No Formulas) (For Airtel and certain PSUs like BEL)
 Principle & Need.

 Antennas used in Cellular Networks.

 Antennas used in different practical applications & reason.

8. Data Communication and Networking (specifically asked in companies like Qualcomm,

Airtel, Kalkitech, RelianceJIO, etc.)
 Physical Layer, Data Link Layer, Network layer

 OSI model

 Routing algorithms (static and dynamic, interdomain and intradomain)

 IP addressing schemes (classless and classfull), Subnetting, Supernetting

 Basics of IPV4 and IPV6 

 Various Networking Protocols

 Current Technology

 Significance of Transport layer and Application layer

 Sources:
i. Data Communication and Networking - Forouzan


9. Microwave (Asked specifically in PSUs)


 Smith chart (principles and characteristics)

 Transmission line-VSWR, Reflection coefficient, characteristic impedance

 Modes of transmission(TE and TM)

 Devices (circulator, isolator, Tees, directional coupler)

 S parameters

 Maxwell’s equation

 Sources:
 Microwave devices and circuits - Liao

10.Some additional topics:
 GSM, CDMA architecture (Airtel).

 2G, 2.5G, 3G(UMTS), LTE


 Current technology in mobile communication
 Radar and satellite communication- basic working principle, range of radar, types and applications in practical
scenario

*follow internet for these topics

 All the students preparing for core companies are strongly advised to brush up their software
skills as well
 Do revise basic C programming concepts and basics of Data structures
 Follow Geeks for Geeks for these topics and practice geeks quiz
 Along with this, there is a separate section on aptitude as well which sometimes plays a crucial role
in your selection process.
 Do practice from pariksha.co, indiabix.com and other suitable sources.
 Here is the link for some additional study material required for some of the topics
https://drive.google.com/open?id=109rIrrTzK9mMRjRT53Dt0EeTkoiNAIuu
 Also, certain companies like Finisar Corporation have asked questions based on class 11th and 12th
physics topics like Newton’s laws, friction, SHM, etc. So be ready to face such unexpected things as
well and prepare accordingly.
 Choose your Areas of Interest carefully for your entire interview is based on them.
 You should have at least one good project in your CV. It is one of the most important topic on which
your interview rounds about. Prepare it well.
 Also read past interview experiences available on TPO portal and available online for company
specific preparation. It will help you out to a large extent.

Brace yourselves, prepare well and come out with flying colours.
All the best for the upcoming placement sessions!!!