Pukyong National University

PKNU alumnus developed core material technology for next-generation high-density semiconductors

- Ma Kyung-Yeol, a researcher affiliated to prof. Shin Hyeon-Suk's team at UNIST... a thesis in <Nature> as the first author

△ Mr. Ma (second from left in the back row) is taking a commemorative photo with his research team.

Research conducted with an alumnus of Pukyong National University, who is a researcher at UNIST, was published in <Nature>, a world-famous academic journal.

The research results on the development of next-generation semiconductor core material technology in which researcher Ma Kyung-Yeol (enrolled in '08, major of materials engineering, PKNU) of the professor Shin Hyeon-Suk (chemistry)'s research team at UNIST participated as the first author was published in the <Nature>, international journal on June 2nd.

Our alumnus Ma Kyung-Yeol, who graduated from the department of materials engineering at Pukyong National University in 2014, became a researcher after completing his doctorate at UNIST.

This research is the first in the world to develop a technology to coalesce a single-crystals of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) into multi-layers for application to next-generation high-density semiconductors.

The next-generation high-integration semiconductor made of two-dimensional materials solves problems such as current leakage and heating problem and has a high degree of integration, but a two-dimensional insulator material that can prevent functional degradation such as charge trapping or electron scattering is essential.

Hexagonal boron nitride is known as the only two-dimensional insulator material that can prevent such functional deterioration, but it was difficult to develop a technology to to coalesce it into a single-crystal form with an appropriate thickness for use in semiconductor devices.

In this study, the UNIST research team, including researcher Ma Kyung-Yeol, succeeded in synthesizing a hexagonal boron nitride single-crystal with adjustable thickness through a new synthesis mode that controls the concentration of materials required for synthesis.

This is the first time that a single-crystal has been synthesized in the form of a multi-layered thin film, and the research team expects that this study will overcome the physical limitations of Moore's Law (the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit double about every two years).

Following the publication of professor Lee Bo-Ram (dept. of physics)'s research on PeLED, a next-generation display material, in <Nature> last year, Pukyong National University is producing excellent results, with the research results of its graduates being published in <Nature>. <Pukyong Today>