SK Hynix Awards 240 Million KRW to Semiconductor Innovation Patent Inventors

Selected 10 Cases Across Various Technology Fields Including DRAM, NAND, CIS, and P&T
'Innovation Patent Award Ceremony' for 17 Recipients

Vice President Min Kyung-hyun, Head of Patents at SK Hynix (from left), Vice President Cha Seon-yong, Head of DRAM Development, TL Lee Kang-seol, TL Kim Yong-mi, and Vice President Kim Yoon-wook, Head of Sustainable Management, are posing for a commemorative photo at the 4th SK Hynix Innovation Patent Awards Ceremony.
[Photo by SK Hynix]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] SK Hynix announced on the 25th that it selected a total of 10 innovative patents in various technology fields such as DRAM, NAND flash, image sensors (CIS), and P&T (Package and Test·post-process) through the '4th Innovation Patent Awards Ceremony,' and awarded plaques and a total prize money of 240 million KRW to 17 incumbent researchers who invented them.

There are two highest awards (Gold Prize). Lee Kang-seol and Kim Yong-mi TL from SK Hynix DRAM Development, who improved the 'refresh' function while reducing the DRAM circuit area, and Kim Seung-beom TL from the Future Technology Research Institute, who lowered the 'contact' resistance between wiring inside the DRAM and reduced the defect rate, each received the award. Refresh is a function in DRAM that maintains data at regular intervals. Contact refers to a pillar-shaped structure that electrically connects the layers stacked and repeatedly etched on a wafer (semiconductor disc) between the fine elements and circuits inside the chip.

In addition, SK Hynix selected 3 silver and 5 bronze innovative patents in NAND, CIS, and P&T. The awards ceremony was conducted in a way that executives in charge, including Kim Yoon-wook, Vice President of Sustainable Management at SK Hynix, and Min Kyung-hyun, Vice President in charge of patents, personally visited the awardees working in Icheon and Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, on the 23rd and 24th.

Since 2018, SK Hynix has been implementing the Innovation Patent Award system annually to boost employees' research motivation and encourage the discovery of strong patents. This system operates by selecting innovative patents that have significantly contributed to sales increase and solving technical problems among patents registered by SK Hynix, and rewarding the incumbent researchers who invented them.

SK Hynix currently holds more than 20,000 patents worldwide. The company stated, "We plan to continuously discover strong patents to strengthen global semiconductor competitiveness."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.