Lucent Technologies Inc's Bell Laboratories research arm says it has created the world's smallest practical transistor, making it possible to put billions of transistors on a computer chip.

The so-called "nanotransistor" is four times smaller, five times faster and draws 60 to 160 times less power than usable transistors made with present technology. While there have been smaller transistors, they don't have the capability to execute practical applications, Bell Labs said. The transistor will be commercially available in 10-12 years.