Do you know some basic interview questions of power electronics?

[bhl777]

Does anyone know some basic interview questions of power electronics?

Hello everyone, I am going to have a interview for a junior applications engineer position, which is about analog IC and power electronics. Does anyone know that what are the most frequently-asked basic concepts of power electronics part? Thank you very much!

 

[mtwieg]

You should definitely know about the various structures of power mosfets. VDMOS, LDMOS, VMOS, trench FETs, etc. Many controller chips have the power switches built in.

Also know about implementations of transconductance amps, those are becoming pretty common as well.

 

[bhl777]

Thank you MTWIEG, I have the book "fundamental of power electronics" and "Power electronics: converters, applications and design", could you tell me if I can find all the information you said in it? Or if you have some recommendation of the books or the chapters I should refer to, could you also tell me?
Could you tell me something more about implementation of transconductance amplifier? Because I didn't find some information there.

Thank you very much!

You should definitely know about the various structures of power mosfets. VDMOS, LDMOS, VMOS, trench FETs, etc. Many controller chips have the power switches built in.

Also know about implementations of transconductance amps, those are becoming pretty common as well.

 

[mtwieg]

I don't own either of those texts so I can't tell you what you'll find in them. But keep in mind that if you are applying to be an IC designer, then they may not care much about your understanding of actual power systems, since you probably wouldn't deal with any directly. Rather they may just care about how good you are with CMOS design or fabrication knowhow (which really has nothing to do directly with power). Depends on what kind of products they make though. You should find that out first and use that as a lead.

 

[bhl777]

Thank you mtwieg, I appreciate for your guidance very much. But this position is an applications engineer regarding some power management analog IC , not design engineer, do you have any suggestions of that?

I don't own either of those texts so I can't tell you what you'll find in them. But keep in mind that if you are applying to be an IC designer, then they may not care much about your understanding of actual power systems, since you probably wouldn't deal with any directly. Rather they may just care about how good you are with CMOS design or fabrication knowhow (which really has nothing to do directly with power). Depends on what kind of products they make though. You should find that out first and use that as a lead.

 

[mtwieg]

Oh, so you're not designing the actual IC, and instead using it in systems, then you will definitely want to know about power converter topologies. Also about feedback and control methods. Knowing about FETs would also be very useful. You should try to find out what kind of systems they want engineered. Like are they small DC-DC converters, AC-DC, motor drives, etc. There's a ton of material they could ask about, so you should try to narrow it down.

 

[bhl777]

Thank you mtwieg again, so I am wondering that what should I do in order to prepare for that? Should I download the datasheet to read? Or should I do something else? They make power management IC for desktop using analog and power electronics technology.
I really very appreciate for your kindest guidance!

Oh, so you're not designing the actual IC, and instead using it in systems, then you will definitely want to know about power converter topologies. Also about feedback and control methods. Knowing about FETs would also be very useful. You should try to find out what kind of systems they want engineered. Like are they small DC-DC converters, AC-DC, motor drives, etc. There's a ton of material they could ask about, so you should try to narrow it down.

 

[mtwieg]

Yes, absolutely read through their documentation. When you see a term or concept you don't know or understand, research it until you do. That should be good preparation.