One would think the 4 bitters are dead by now! Not so! They survive and they do so in some interesting ways. Read the complete article below for details, Robert Carvotta has done a wonderful coverage in his article. But here are the highlights.
1. There are quite a few manufacturers still selling 4 bit devices. These are Atmel, EM Microelectronics, and Epson as well as NEC Electronics, Renesas, Samsung, and National.
2. Some are continuing their lines to support legacy applications, that is not very surprising. Atmel and EM Microelectronic among them. EM chips appear to be present in timepiece designs largely.
3.These go into high volume products such as the Gillette Fusion proGlide.
4. EM Electonics sells them as ROM based devices, developers use them as another hard configured device, not programmable at all.
5. As many of these devices can work with 0.6 V power supply, with low duty cycle applications it can fit into applications where a single battery can serve for the lifetime of the appliance. Applications where the device is possibly sleeping 90% of the time.
6. What else could be responsible for letting these devices survive so long!!
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