Hardware Design Development Interview Questions

If you're looking for Hardware Design Development Interview Questions & Answers for Experienced or Freshers, you are in the right place. There are a lot of opportunities from many reputed companies in the world. According to research Hardware Design Development has a market share of about 5.7%. So, You still have the opportunity to move ahead in your career in Hardware Design Development. Mindmajix offers Advanced Hardware Design Development Interview Questions 2023 that helps you in cracking your interview & acquire a dream career as Hardware Design Developer. 

Top 10 Frequently Asked Hardware Design Development Interview Questions

1) What is a chip? What is its significance?

2) What exactly do you know about LED?

3) What exactly do you mean by machine language?

4) What are buses? What is its significance?

5) What are the performance characters of any hardware design?

6) What exactly do you know about a microprocessor?

7) What is a clock generator? What is its significance in the hardware?

8) What do you mean by NRE? How does it matter?

9) What is a breadboard?

10) What is emulation in hardware design and development?

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Hardware Design Development Interview Questions and Answers 

1) What are the factors that can affect the overall safety of the equipment?

There are certain factors that are responsible and the biggest one among them is the design. It is true that design plays an important role in enhancing the safety of the equipment. In addition to this, power control is another major challenge while developing them. Fluctuation in the power supply can damage the entire equipment and can enhance the cost factor up to a great extent.  The next major factor is the quality of the components that is always responsible for the same. 

2) How the integration of a lot of electronic components is possible on a small plate?

In this present scenario, this is generally done with the help of a technology known as VLSI which stands for very large-scale integration. It actually aims to cut down the size of different devices into smaller ones. The continuous reduction in the size of electronic gadgets such as computers has become possible with the help of this approach.

3) How will you define VLSI?

It stands for very-large-scale integration and is basically a technology that is helping developers in reducing the size of equipment. Presently, with the help of this technology, an entire electronic circuit can be designed on a single chip. And because it doesn’t cost a lot when it comes to the large-scale development of equipment, this approach is preferred all over the world.

4) What are rectifiers? What role do they play in the development of hardware?

Rectifiers are the devices that are used to control the power. It is quite true that in the present time, a lot of equipment is fabricated on a single plate or chip. These components together constitute the hardware. One of the key issues is the power requirements of these components are low. Therefore a rectifier is deployed with every type of hardware. It always makes sure of a controlled current. Next, it converts Alternative Current into Direct current and enables the hardware or the instruments to perform their function all the time. 

5) In the modern-day hardware design, a plate is used on which all the components are integrated. What are its name and significance?

It is called PCB i.e. Printed Circuit board. It acts s a base for all the components and its primary aim is to reduce the wiring problem when all the components are required to be connected together. A wired connection among all these equipment is not possible and therefore conductors are used that are fixed on the base of plates and act as channels to pass the signals. One of the very common examples of PCB is the base of a computer motherboard.

6) Name a few electronic devices that are used in hardware design development?

These are :

1. Capacitors
2. Inductors
3. Transformers
4. Diodes
5. Relays
6. Transistors

7) Do you support the development of robots? Why or why not? What are the key challenges associated with their development?

Well, robots are among the amazing hardware design and are a perfect instant of technology which is going more and more advanced. Robotic can be used at several places to cut down the human interface such as in hospitals to carry the medicines for the patients in the bedroom. However, robotics can have a lot of cons associated with their development. They can easily be misguided and can fail to perform their task. One of the key challenges associated with their development is nothing but the cost factor. They need a lot of money to be invested in their proper development.

8) Can design failure be the reason for the failure of the entire equipment?

Every year around 5 million hardware equipment get fails to provide the most desired outcomes just because of design issues in them. It is true that design issues can lead to entire project failure.

9) What are semiconductors and what is their role in modern-day hardware design development?

These are the devices that have properties of both conductors and insulators. They are used in designing certain specific components in which there is sometimes a need for passage of current while sometimes passage of current should be avoided. Their most common application is the development of smartphones and laptops.

10) What should be the properties of developing material considered for hardware?

The very first thing is it should be shockproof for the safety of the user. Presently, many manufacturers and developing organizations have started working on water-proof materials as well. The durability, as well as performance, are the other major features that any design material must-have.

11) What is a chip? What is its significance?

A chip or a computer chip is nothing but portable size electronic equipment. Although it is having a small size it consists of a lot of electronic components fabricated inside it. It requires approximately +5V power to operate. The primary aim of chips is to reduce the size of any electronic hardware and avoid other development issues. They are helpful in cutting down the cost factor up to a great extent.

12) What exactly do you know about a microprocessor?

The microprocessor is amazing electronic hardware equipment that can be defined as an integrated circuit having all the functions of a CPU of a computer. With respect to the increase in development and demand for smart devices, microprocessors have wide applications in almost every such device. Actually, they act as the brain of any smart device in the present scenario.

13) Are you familiar with any designing tool that is used for hardware design development?

MATLAB is a popular and in fact one of the best tools. It is available with a very large number of modules and the good thing is a lot of organizations use it. It’s a part of several project development and is known for its error-free approach.

14) In hardware development, is it possible to replace a component in case of its failure? Why or why not?

It all depends on the type of hardware. For example, repairing a component fixed on a PCB is not at all a big deal. However, in the case of extremely small equipment fabricated through large-scale integration is not possible. 

15) What exactly do you know about LED?

It stands for Light-emitting diode and is one of the very well-known technologies in the present time for the development of smart and flat-screen television. This technology becomes popular mainly because of its low power requirements and quick response. One of the major drawbacks is it cannot be repaired once any fault occurs in them.

16) What are the performance characters of any hardware design?

There are certain factors that play a significant role. A few of them are:

1. Accuracy
2. Precision
3. Performance
4. Reliability
5. Compatibility

17) What exactly do you mean by machine language?

Any form of hardware has to communicate with the software as most of the devices are a combination of the same. Machine language is nothing but an approach through which software and hardware communicate with each other. The commands given by the users to the device are converted into machine language so the device can understand the instruction. Generally, information is processed in the form of O’s and 1’s. 

18) What are buses? What is its significance?

Buses are nothing but small and thin wires that generally connect specific hardware with another and are responsible for the flow of information between them. A bus can be 8 bit, 16, bit 32, or 64 bit depending on the requirement. A 32-bit bus can transfer 64 bits of data at one time. A bit can be any string character related to the information that needs to be processed. 

19) What is a clock generator? What is its significance in the hardware?

A clock generator is nothing but a circuit that is responsible for the generation of clocks i.e. timing signals for the synchronization of a circuit. It assures the proper functionality of any hardware based on electronics. Different types of waveforms can be generated with the help of a clock generator.

20) What do you mean by the terms SMPS? What is its role in ensuring the smooth functioning of electronic hardware?

It stands for Switch mode power supply and is basically an electronic power supply that is responsible for distributing the electrical power efficiently among the sub-components of hardware. Any change in power can diversely affect the functionality of hardware and can even damage the same. Therefore, it’s necessary to use SMPS with most electronic gadgets. 

21) What are the major design and development factors that are responsible for the success of any hardware in the present time?

Well, the fact is the demand of people or users are frequently changing. Therefore it is necessary to pay attention to some important factors to keep up the pace when it comes to developing or designing any hardware that works reliably. A few of them are:

1. Safety
2. Accuracy
3. Response time
4. Bandwidth
5. Testability
6. Size and Weight
7. Mean time between failure
8. Prototype time

22) What do you mean by NRE? How does it matter?

NRE stands for the Nonrecurring Engineering Cost. In other words, it can be defined as the cost which is basically associated with the one-time cost to design and to develop any hardware. It largely matters because most of the time this cost is high and organizations cannot always make sure of returns on it.

23) Suppose you have hardware ready in every aspect and is best in terms of quality. Name any two factors according to you that can still be the reason for its failure?

That depends on the type of product and its demand. Some factors that can affect it could be

1. Time to mark

et the product
2. Human errors

24) What are the major factors that are included in the design analysis of any hardware?

1. Data flow graphs
2. Design analysis
3. Considering new requirements
4. Problem formulation
5. Mentioning specifications

25) What is soldering and De-soldering in hardware design?

Any hardware is a combination of various small components that need to be integrated with each other. Soldering is a procedure that is used to connect one component with another manually with the help of a soldering gun. This approach is considered when some customization is required in hardware. On the other side removing these components from each other or from the PCB i.e. Printed circuit board where they are fabricated is known as De-soldering. 

26) Name the four categories of tasks in hardware design and development?

These are:

1. Sequential
2. Conditional
3. Iterative 
4. Interrupt

An Interrupt can further be classified based on the priority of a task. 

27) What is emulation in hardware design and development?

Many times there is a need to match the specifications or the function of one device to another. So an emulator is used which enables one device to behave like others for achieving a specific target. This approach seems similar to simulation but actually, it is quite different from it. 

28) What is SNR? How can it be improved?

SNR stands for signal-to-noise ratio. It largely matters when it comes to any hardware design and development. Having better splitter quality, tight connections, using amplifiers and by using quality components it can be improved.

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29) What is a breadboard?

It is basically a board that is considered for conducting an experiment on an electric or an electronic circuit. It is called a breadboard mainly because of its similarity with a piece of bread.

30) How can the electric charge be stored in a circuit?

This is done with the help of devices known as capacitors. They are available with a different rating to keep up the pace in this matter.