China makes its own 22nm transistor

EE Times writes researchers at the Institute of Microelectronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMECAS) in Beijing, China have successfully made a high-k metal-gate (HKMG) MOSFET with a gate length of 22nm. The achievement puts China's internally-developed process technology at two to four years behind the west. For many years the country was excluded from cutting-edge chip manufacturing technology, but China has gradually been catching up via licensing of external processes and self-education.

The home-designed and built device shows "world-class performance and low power dissipation," IMECAS was quoted as saying. However, no further details were provided.

The introduction of China-developed 22-nm IC technology would save China money in importing foreign chips or process technology and boost China-made IC's competitiveness, Xinhua quoted IMECAS as saying.

Leading-edge 22/20-nm process technology is just starting to be introduced in the commercial sector and is valued for its ability to reduced power consumption of smartphones and tablet computers, thereby providing longer battery life.