Professor Kwon Hyukjin's Research Team at National Pukyong University Develops Next-Generation Insulation Material That Can Be Produced at Low Temperature Without Vacuum

Expected to Accelerate the Era of Flexible Electronic Devices
Published in an International Academic Journal

Pukyong National University (President: Bae Sanghoon) announced on the 17th that a research team led by Professor Kwon Hyukjin (Department of Energy and Chemical Materials Engineering) has developed a new organic-inorganic hybrid-based insulating material, which is gaining attention as a core material for next-generation flexible electronic devices.

Professor Hyukjin Kwon, Pukyong National University. Courtesy of Pukyong National University

The joint research team, including Professor Kwon Hyukjin, Professor Kim Jooyoung (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Kangwon National University), and Professor Kim Sehyun (Department of Chemical Engineering, Konkuk University), published the results of this study in March in an international journal in the field of materials (IF: 18.5).

In the rapidly growing fields of wearable devices, Internet of Things (IoT), and flexible displays, which are next-generation electronic devices, high-performance insulating materials are essential for low-power operation and stable signal processing.

To meet these demands, the joint research team proposed an innovative material synthesis strategy that enables fabrication based on non-vacuum and low-temperature processes, and succeeded in developing a new organic-inorganic hybrid insulating material.

In this study, the team fabricated a wet-process organic-inorganic hybrid insulating material by combining inorganic substances with high dielectric constant (high-k), such as zirconium oxide (ZrO2) and titanium oxide (TiO2), with organic materials through a simple manufacturing process. This new material was found to effectively serve as a core insulating layer in electronic devices while also exhibiting stable operation on flexible substrates. The team expects that this material can be applied in various fields, including next-generation flexible devices and large-area printed electronic circuits.

Furthermore, thin-film transistors (TFTs) fabricated using this organic-inorganic hybrid thin film as the insulating layer demonstrated excellent driving performance at a low voltage of about 2V. It was also confirmed that differences in the oxide composition and structural characteristics of each material led to variations in driving characteristics and hysteresis behavior. This means that customized designs can be achieved in various forms depending on the purpose and required characteristics of the device, allowing applications not only in low-voltage transistors but also in memory devices and integrated printed electronic circuits.

In particular, the newly developed organic-inorganic hybrid insulating material can be manufactured at room temperature or low temperatures under non-vacuum conditions, making large-scale production and large-area fabrication feasible without expensive equipment or extensive infrastructure. The research team believes that this material can overcome the limitations of existing semiconductor processes, reduce energy and costs, and enable the production of popular and versatile electronic devices. They also expect it will contribute to the realization of low-voltage electronic devices in various fields, such as wearable devices attached to the human body, medical sensors, and indoor/outdoor environmental monitoring networks.

(Top) New organic-inorganic hybrid materials and printed electronic devices utilizing them, (Bottom) Fabrication process and production of printed electronic devices through dedicated solution processing.

Professor Kwon Hyukjin said, "We expect this research will accelerate the low-power trend and the spread of printing processes in next-generation electronic devices, laying the foundation for the era of flexible electronics. We plan to continue contributing to the creation of a sustainable electronic device ecosystem through convergence research among various materials and industrial cooperation."

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