TSMC OA Experience Sharing: A Comprehensive Guide

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 codingskills, problem-solving abilities, and semiconductor knowledge. Having guided many students through the TSMC OA successfully, I’meager 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 usuallyrequired 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 manufacturingprocesses, 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 circuitdesign. They may include multiple-choice questions, short-answer questions, or scenario-based problems that require you to apply your technicalknowledge 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 batchof 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 thebatch. 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: 6

Question 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 edgehas 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 isunreachable 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 = 0

Output:

[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 ifany 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:

True

Still worried about your interview preparation?

Programhelp team offers one-stop job hunting coaching services for various question types like coding, system design, behavioral traits, etc. to improve yourinterview performance with precision. Contact us now and get one step closer to securing offers from top tech companies!

Jack Xu MLE | 微軟人工智慧技術人員

Princeton University博士，人在海外，曾在谷歌、蘋果等多家大廠工作。深度學習NLP方向擁有多篇SCI，機器學習方向擁有Github千星⭐️專案。

See Full Bio