Lee Gwan-hyeong, a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Seoul National University, was selected as the December recipient of the Scientist and Engineer of the Month award.
The Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Research Foundation said on the 3rd that they selected Professor Lee Gwan-hyeong, who developed the "Hypotaxy" process, an innovative technology that can synthesize two-dimensional semiconductors over a large area, laying the foundation for the development of next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors, as the awardee.
Scientist and Engineer of the Month selects one researcher every month who has produced original research results over the past three years and made significant contributions to the advancement of science and technology, and confers the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Award and 10 million won in prize money.
Conventional silicon semiconductors face a limit in which power consumption and heat generation increase as performance improves. As an alternative, two-dimensional semiconductors have emerged. Two-dimensional semiconductors are ultrathin materials only a few atomic layers thick, and because they have low resistance when electrons flow and generate little heat, they are considered suitable materials for next-generation AI Semiconductors.
However, the biggest obstacle to commercialization was the manufacturing process. It is extremely difficult to grow two-dimensional semiconductors as a single crystal sheet without defects over a large area, making it hard to move beyond small laboratory-scale experiments to mass production.
In response, Lee's team developed a new concept process that reverses the growth direction of semiconductors. In conventional semiconductor manufacturing, atoms are typically stacked layer by layer on a substrate (bottom), but with this method it was difficult to uniformly create two-dimensional semiconductors over a large area. Lee shifted the mindset and devised a method that induces crystal growth not from the bottom up, but from the top down.
The greatest advantage of this process is that it is not greatly affected by substrate conditions. Even on amorphous silicon dioxide or metal substrates, where single-crystal growth was difficult with existing methods, high-quality two-dimensional semiconductors can be manufactured.
In fact, using the developed technology, Lee's team succeeded in uniformly fabricating a single-crystal molybdenum disulfide thin film across a 4-inch wafer. They also confirmed that simply adjusting the thickness of a metal thin film allows free control of the number of layers in a two-dimensional semiconductor, broadening the possibilities for designing various electronic devices.
In particular, it is significant not only for securing world-class electrical performance but also for confirming compatibility with existing semiconductor manufacturing processes. It was also confirmed that the method can be widely applied to various types of two-dimensional semiconductor materials. The results were published in the international journal "Nature" on Feb.
Lee said, "The initial research started from results that completely contradicted existing theory. A mindset of not overlooking failed experiments and doggedly reexamining them ultimately led to good results," and added, "Going forward, I want us to directly design and implement a new semiconductor platform that will lead the post-silicon era with our own hands."