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Course contents

  • How to Use This Course
  • Reading Path
  • STA Glossary
  • STA Metrics Reference
  • STA Mastery Cheatsheet
  • Timing Paths and Checks16
  • Constraints & SDC Fundamentals20
  • Delay Graph & Path Analysis16
  • Beyond Setup and Hold16
  • Multi-Corner Multi-Mode Signoff16
  • OCV, AOCV, POCV and Variation16
  • Crosstalk and Noise16
  • ECO and Closure16
  • STA Debug Playbook16
  • STA Interview Prep26
    • STA Whiteboard Framework
      • The Answer Framework
      • Drawing a Path
      • Naming the Failure
      • Grading Rubric
    • STA Framework Drills
    • Scenario: MMMC Storm
    • Scenario: ECO Under Pressure
    • Scenario: Constraint Ghost
    • STA Interview Q&A Bank
    • STA Interview Q&A Bank (Expanded)
  • Capstone Timing Signoff Lab4
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‹STA Interview Prep
  1. Topics
  2. Static Timing Analysis
  3. STA Interview Prep
  4. STA Whiteboard Framework

Part 10 · Interview Prep · All levels

STA Whiteboard Framework

The four-step answer framework behind every strong static timing interview answer, how to draw a path, how to name the check first, and how answers are scored.

  • 4topics
  • 4lessons

Timing interviews ask many different questions but listen for the same four things: what you assume about clocks and constraints, how the check works on the circuit, what each fix costs, and what evidence would close the issue. This topic teaches that habit, a drawing routine that makes slack computable on a whiteboard, the practice of naming the check before proposing anything, and the rubric your answers will be scored against.

Lesson

After it you can...

The Answer Framework

Structure any answer as Assumption, Mechanism, Trade-off, Evidence.

Drawing a Path

Draw a path with edges, arrival and required times, and compute slack.

Naming the Failure

Name the failing check before suggesting a fix.

Grading Rubric

Score an answer from 0 to 4 and say what a 4 sounds like.

Check yourself What are the four parts of the framework?

Assumption, Mechanism, Trade-off, Evidence.

Related topics

  • Next topic: Framework Drills

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See also

  • STA Framework Drills
  • Scenario: MMMC Storm
  • Scenario: ECO Under Pressure