Two domestic think tanks have developed the world's smallest nanoelectronic device for use in next-generation tera-level semiconductor devices.

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and the National Nanofab Center on Tuesday said they have jointly produced the three-dimensional, three-nanometer class fin field effect transistor that is smaller than NEC of Japan's four-nanometer model.

Three nanometers is equal to one 40-thousandth of an adult human hair.

The new device is seen as essential for use in portable Internet, video conferencing and wearable computers and could also go into microprocessors, tera-level D-RAM, S-RAM and flash memory chips.