 All RF Cafe Quizzes make great fodder for
employment interviews for technicians or engineers - particularly those who are
fresh out of school or are relatively new to the work world. Come to think of it,
they would make equally excellent study material for the same persons who are going
to be interviewed for a job. Bonne chance, Viel Glück, がんばろう,
buena suerte, удачи, in bocca al lupo, 행운을 빕니다,
ádh mór, בהצלחה, lykke til, 祝你好運.
Well, you know what I mean: Good luck!
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RF Cafe Quiz #67
 This
quiz tests your knowledge on the history of familiar electronics products companies' name changes
(aka etymology). Many of you have lived through the plethora of acquisitions,
mergers, and name changes represented here. There might be more than one correct answer. You might need
a motion sickness pill when navigating all the changes. Wikipedia is used as the reference because I
know the historical information presented there is accurate (enough).
1.
Skyworks Solutions designs and manufactures a wide variety of amplifiers, switches,
front-end modules, and other ICs and modules for wireless systems. From which company(s) did it come?
  b &
d) Conexant Systems
Skyworks Solutions
was formed as a separate company in 2002 following the merger of
Alpha Industries and
Conexant Systems.
2. Keysight Technologies is a premier maker of test equipment of all types.
It has undergone multiple name changes. What was its original name?
  b &
c) Agilent Technologies & Hewlett Packard
Keysight Technologies in 2014
was born out of Agilent
Technologies, which itself in 2001 was a spawn of
Hewlett Packard. I'll never
forgive HP for abandoning its test equipment brand in favor of computers.
3. Qorvo manufactures RFICs and components for the cellphone and wireless
markets. Whence came it?
  a &
d) RF Micro Devices & TriQuint Semiconductor
Qorvo - a name for which I will
never understand the motivation - was formed in 2015 following the merger of
TriQuint Semiconductor
and RF Micro Devices.
4. Freescale Semiconductor makes many types of RFICs for applications like
oscillators, amplifiers, and radio tuners. Which company recently bought it?
 a) NXP Semiconductors
NXP Semiconductors bought
Freescale Semiconductor in 2015.
Freescale Semiconductor was a spinoff of Motorola in 2004.
5. Fairchild Semiconductor's wide array of IC products includes those for
analog and RF applications. Can you name the company that most recently acquired it?
 d)
ON Semiconductor
ON Semiconductor bought
out Fairchild Semiconductor
in 2016 (just a couple weeks ago). Prior to that, Fairchild Semiconductor
was acquired by National
Semiconductor in 1987 and by Schlumberger Limited in 1979.
6. Texas Instruments recently bought a very famous analog and analog IC producer.
Which company was it?
 a) National Semiconductor
National Semiconductor
was bought by Texas Instruments
in 2011.
7. Avago Technologies bought which well-known WiFi and Bluetooth RFIC product
company?
 b) Broadcom
Limited
Avago Technologies bought Broadcom Corporation
in 2016, and kept the Broadcom
Limited name. Broadcom was originally part of
Agilent Technologies,
which separated from Hewlett
Packard in 1999.
8. Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR) was an early player in the fabless chip business,
making WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS RFICs. Which company most recently bought CSR?
 a)
Qualcomm
Qualcomm bought
Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR)
in 2015.
9. Linear Technology, a decades-long producer of analog ICs, was acquired
by which company in 2016?
 c)
Analog Devices
Analog Devices acquired
Linear Technology in July
2016
Posted September 28, 2016
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