Bit Spreading Interleave Bits with Zeros

Code

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdint.h>

uint16_t spread_bits(uint8_t val) {
    uint16_t mask=0;
    for(uint8_t i=0; i<8; i++){
        if(val&(1<<i)){
            mask|=(1<<i*2);
        }
    }
    return mask;
}

int main() {
    uint8_t val;
    scanf("%hhu", &val);

    uint16_t result = spread_bits(val);
    printf("%u", result);
    return 0;
}

Solving Approach