China's Institute of Microelectronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMECAS) announces it has made a breakthrough in constructing 22-nanometer (nm) integrated circuits, which would give a boost to local electronics manufacturers.

Xinhua reported last Friday Chinese scientists from IMECAS has developed metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors with a gate length of 22 nanometers--a preliminary step in producing 22nm integrated circuits .

They did so by using high-k metal gate materials instead of conventional materials such as silica and polysilicon, with the result being "world-class performance and low power dissipation", the institute stated.

This breakthrough would mean huge savings for China in importing foreign technologies, and boost China-made integrated circuit products' competitiveness, the report added.

China earmarked this field of reseach in 2009 as one of its major national scientific projects. The 22nm integrated circuit technology has the potential to reduce the cost of manufacturing products such as computers and mobile devices, Xinhua stated.