Professor Kim Yoon-seok of Sungkyunkwan University, Developer of 'Next-Generation Semiconductor Devices,' Selected as Scientist of the Month

Ministry of Science and ICT to Announce on the 4th

Professor Kim Yoon-seok, Sungkyunkwan University

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 3rd that Professor Kim Yoon-seok of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University, who improved the performance of hafnium oxide (HfO2), a next-generation semiconductor material, has been selected as the January recipient of the 'Scientist of the Month' award.

Professor Kim elucidated the reason for the ferroelectricity of HfO2, that is, the property by which a material maintains its polarity after parts of it become positively (+) or negatively (-) charged due to an external electric field. He was also recognized for developing a technology to enhance the ferroelectricity of HfO2 using ion beams, thereby strengthening the competitiveness of semiconductor device technology.

Semiconductor materials with strong ferroelectricity have a larger difference between the basic structures of '0' and '1' used to store data in memory, allowing stored data to be read more accurately. Therefore, HfO2, which exhibits excellent ferroelectricity even in nanometer-thin films, is considered a next-generation semiconductor material that can replace conventional oxides in memory, transistors, and other devices. The problem was that until recently, the cause of ferroelectricity in HfO2 had not been identified. Additionally, complex post-processing was required to increase the ferroelectricity of HfO2, making it difficult to realize ultra-high integration of actual semiconductor devices.

Professor Kim's research team, noting that the degree of ferroelectricity is closely related to oxygen vacancies in the crystal structure of oxide materials, devised a method to enhance the ferroelectricity of HfO2 by quantitatively controlling oxygen vacancies using ion beams. By irradiating HfO2-based ferroelectrics with lightweight and finely controllable ion beams to form oxygen vacancies, they strengthened ferroelectricity simply by adjusting the ion beam irradiation density without the need for complex processes or post-treatment. In fact, observations of HfO2-based ferroelectrics showed a successful increase in ferroelectricity by more than 200% compared to existing levels. They also identified the principle that the increase in ferroelectricity originates from changes in the crystal structure linked to the density of oxygen vacancies. The technology to enhance ferroelectricity using only one variable, the ion beam, has the advantage of being applicable to current semiconductor processes without paradigm shifts.

This research was internationally recognized to the extent that it was published in the international journal Science in May of last year.

Professor Kim said, “This research is significant in that it revealed the cause of ferroelectricity in hafnium oxide and realized high performance of ferroelectrics,” adding, “We expect that this research will accelerate the practical application of high-efficiency semiconductor devices utilizing ferroelectricity.”

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