Introduction
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest semiconductor foundry, uses TSMC OA as a key entry point for technical roles. This OA rigorously evaluates coding skills, problem-solving abilities, and semiconductor knowledge. Having guided many students through the TSMC OA successfully, I’m eager to share insights on its structure, question types, and sample coding problems for your effective preparation.
TSMC OA Interview Question Types
1. Coding Questions
These questions are designed to test your programming skills, algorithmic thinking, and ability to write efficient and bug-free code. You are usually required to implement solutions in languages like Python, Java, or C++. The problems often draw inspiration from real-world semiconductor manufacturing or circuit-design scenarios, such as optimizing manufacturing processes, analyzing electrical signals, or simulating chip operations.
2. Semiconductor-Specific Technical Questions
These questions assess your knowledge of semiconductor physics, manufacturing processes (e.g., photolithography, etching), and electronic circuit design. They may include multiple-choice questions, short-answer questions, or scenario-based problems that require you to apply your technical knowledge to solve practical issues.
3. Logical and Analytical Reasoning
Logical and analytical reasoning questions evaluate your ability to think critically, analyze complex information, and draw logical conclusions. These questions can be in the form of number series, pattern recognition, or data-interpretation tasks, similar to those found in general aptitude tests.
TSMC OA Interview Coding Real-World Questions
Question 1: Wafer Yield Optimization
Problem Description:
In semiconductor manufacturing, the yield of wafers (the percentage of defect-free wafers) is a critical metric. Given a 2D matrix representing a batch of wafers, where each cell value indicates the test result of a wafer section (0 for defective, 1 for non-defective), calculate the overall yield of the batch. Additionally, identify the largest contiguous non-defective rectangular region on the wafer and return its area.
Example Input:
wafer_batch = [
[1, 1, 0, 1],
[1, 1, 1, 1],
[0, 1, 1, 1],
[1, 1, 1, 1]
]Output:
Overall Yield: 0.875
Largest Non-Defective Region Area: 6Question 2: Circuit Signal Propagation
Problem Description:
In an integrated circuit, signals propagate through a network of interconnected nodes. Given a directed graph representing the circuit, where each edge has a delay associated with it, find the shortest time it takes for a signal to travel from a source node to all other nodes in the graph. If a node is unreachable from the source, report it as -1.
Example Input:
graph = {
0: [(1, 1), (2, 4)],
1: [(2, 2), (3, 6)],
2: [(3, 3)],
3: []
}
source = 0Output:
[0, 1, 3, 6]Question 3: Mask Design for Photolithography
Problem Description:
In the photolithography process, a mask is used to transfer patterns onto a wafer. Given a set of polygons representing the patterns on a mask, determine if any two polygons overlap. Each polygon is represented as a list of (x, y) coordinates in clockwise or counter-clockwise order.
Example Input:
polygon1 = [(0, 0), (0, 2), (2, 2), (2, 0)]
polygon2 = [(1, 1), (1, 3), (3, 3), (3, 1)]Output:
TrueStill worried about your interview preparation?
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