Archives: AI in Device division

EE Professor Hyunjoo Lee wins 2022 4^th S-Oil Future Scientist Award 

Professor Hyunjoo Lee won the 4^th future scientist award (IT field), which was funded by the S-Oil Science & Culture Foundation and was co-hosted by Korean Academy of Science and Technology and Korean Association of University Presidents.

She also donated 4,000,000 KRW of the monetary reward to KAIST as school development fund. 

We send heartful congratulation and appreciation to Professor Lee for achieving numerous remarkable research feats and donating for the school improvement. 

Since 2011, Korean Academy of Science and Technology (https://kast.or.kr/) has been awarding young scientists in the field of natural science and engineering under the funding of S-Oil Science & Culture Foundation, aiming to foster them into the leaders of national science technology in 21^st century.

On December 9^th of 2022, five scientists selected in the fields of Physics, Physiology/Medicine, Chemical/Material engineering, Energy, and IT were awarded the research funding worth 200,000,000 KRW in the award ceremony co-hosted by Korean Academy of Science and Technology and Korean Association of University Presidents.

Related Link: https://www.ekn.kr/web/view.php?key=20221209010001964

-First ever to develop ferroelectric materials that are thermally stable in various 3D structure integration processes by carefully considering the dopant physical characteristics and mechanical energy of Hafnium materials 

-The thermally stable ferroelectric materials and process guideline that the research team developed and proposed are expected to play a pivotal role in ferroelectric-based 3D structure memory development in the field of academic and semiconductor industry. 

[Professor Sanghun Jeon, and ph.D candidate Giuk Kim]

KAIST EE professor Sanghun Jeon and his research team developed the first-ever ferroelectric materials that are thermally stable in 3D integration process, exploiting the physical understanding of Hafnium ferroelectric materials. Given that the present semiconductor industry is constantly addressing the need for highly integrated and efficient 3D memory devices, this research accomplishment is expected to be appraised as one of the key technologies for ferroelectric-based 3D memory integration process.

Professor Jeon and his research team integrated ferroelectric-based memory device using CMOS process, and found that the strong ferroelectricity property is manifested after applying high thermal energy (>750 degree Celsius, 30 minutes) to it. Also, they developed and proposed the research framework in which the relationship between the domain switching operation and the thermal energy of ferroelectric materials can be intuitively analyzed through electrical measurements.

This research is significant in that it narrowed the gap between the semiconductor manufacturing industry and academia, the former of which is calling for the need for ferroelectric-based 3D memory device integration process and the latter of which is actively studying the functionality of ferroelectric materials.

Professor Jeon explained that “this research accomplishment is expected to be a breakthrough technology for ferroelectric-based 3D memory and circuit integration development, and to play a pivotal role in highly integrated and efficient system development.”     

This research, which Ph. D candidate Giuk Kim conducted as the first author and was supported by Samsung Electronics, was presented in IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting 2022 (IEDM 2022) , one of the most prestigious conferences in the field of semiconductor device and circuits on Dec. 5. 

[Seok-Ho Seo (M.S. candidate), Dong-Hoon Kim (M.S.), Beom-Jin Kim (M.S.), Seung-Woo Park (M.S. candidate), Professor Shinhyun Choi]

KAIST EE professor Shinhyun Choi and his research team announced on 16^th that they successfully developed a synthetic synapse transistor, whose durability allows it to perform repetitive operations with high reliability. The developed transistor, which emulates the behaviors of a neurotransmitter in a human brain, can also increase the learning accuracy of artificial intelligence (AI) without requiring additional circuits. By not only exploiting the structure utilized in conventional NAND Flash memory but also successfully coping with its low durability, Professor Choi and his research team were able to develop the transistor that can reliably play the role of a synapse. 

This research accomplishment was published in the October editorial of Nature communications under the title of “The gate injection-based field-effect synapse transistor with linear conductance update for online training”, in which Seok-Ho Seo (M.S. candidate), Dong-Hoon Kim (M.S.), Beom-Jin Kim (M.S.), and Seung-Woo Park (M.S. candidate) were all listed as co-first authors. 

KAIST EE M.S. candidate Seok-Ho Seo stated that “In addition to this research project, I want to keep on developing novel device technologies for neuromorphic computing.”

This research was supported in part by National Research Foundation of Korea, Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology, National NanoFab center, and Samsung Science & Technology Foundation.

 On Nov. 8^th, Professor Hyunjoo Jenny Lee (KAIST EE) and Dr. Jeongyeon Kim (Korea Brain Research Institute, KBRI) announced a joint development of a general-purpose ultrasound stimulation and monitoring system for the brain activity of small animals.

This technology can stimulate the brain depending on the sleeping condition monitored in real-time, and the research team demonstrated that sleep patterns and short-term memory could be controlled through stimulation of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during the non-rapid-eye movement (NREM) sleep cycle.

 The conventional ultrasound stimulation systems are either too large to be used on free-moving mice, or difficult to use for simultaneous measurements due to large noise signals.

Professor Hyunjoo Lee’s team sought to solve these issues through MEMS-based CMUT (Capacity Micromachined Ultrasound Transducer) research and was able to develop a customizable, closed-loop system that stimulates the brain based on its current state. Their closed-loop stimulation algorithm is able to analyze the sleep phase every 6 seconds and deliver ultrasound stimulation during the NREM sleep cycle, both in a simultaneous process without significant noise. Stimulating the PFC of sleep-deprived mice for 10 hours during NREM sleep cycle showed an increase in rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep duration and short-term spatial memory protection from acute sleep deprivation.

“Ultrasound is a very safe human body irradiation technology, enough that it is used even for fetal imaging”, says Professor Hyunjoo Jenny Lee, “and it is a very attractive means of noninvasive treatment because its radiation can be intensively focused deep inside the body without spreading.” She added, “however, there is little research on the efficacy of ultrasound stimulation due to the lack of preclinical stimulation systems. I hope that our work could be used by many brain science research teams in discovering various therapeutic effects of ultrasound.”

The study was led by Ph.D. candidate Yehhyun Jo (KAIST EE) under professor Hyunjoo Lee, and Dr. Jeongyeon Kim’s research team, with participation of Seong-Gi Kim (Head of Center for Neuroscience Imaging Research, Institute of Basic Science), Dr. Byung Chul Lee (KAIST), and professor Greg S.B. Suh (KAIST Department of Biological Sciences). Their work was published on Oct. 19^th in the international journal Advanced Science, and was selected as the Research Headline by the publisher Wiley. (Title: General-purpose ultrasound neuromodulation system for chronic, closed-loop preclinical studies in freely behaving rodents)

This research was supported by the Next Generation Intelligence Semiconductor Program through National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT), the Engineering Research Center of Excellence (ERC) Program, Korea Brain Research Institute’s Basic Research Program, and the Korea Medical Device Development Fund.

Reference link : 

[Ph.D. candidate See-On Park, Ph.D. candidate Hakcheon Jeong, Master course Jong-Yong Park and Professor Shinhyun Choi, From left] 

See-On Park, Hakcheon Jeong, Jong-Yong Park, researchers under EE Professor Shinhyun Choi, developed a highly reliable variable resistor (memristor) array that simulates the behavior of neurons using a metal oxide layer with an oxygen concentration gradient, and published their work in Nature Communications.

The study was selected for the Nature Communications’ Editor’s highlight, as well as for the Featured Image on the journal website’s front page. 

Link : https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

At KAIST, their research was introduced as one of the breakthrough researches of Fall 2022 within the College of Engineering. 

[Figure 1. The Featured Image in the Nature Communications front page introducing the KAIST team’s research on the memristor for artificial neurons] 

(Thesis title: Experimental demonstration of highly reliable dynamic memristor for artificial neuron and neuromorphic computing) 

This research was conducted with the support from the Samsung Research Funding & Incubation Center of Samsung Electronics

[Professor Sanghun Jeon]

KAIST EE Professor Sanghun Jeon received commendation from the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy at the 15th Semiconductor Day. 

Celebrating its 15^th anniversary this year, Semiconductor day is an annual event in which those who contributed to the development of the semiconductor industry are recognized and commended for their efforts in the field of industry, academia, and research.

It first started in order to celebrate October of 1994, the first year in which the export of semiconductor for South Korea reached over 10 billion US dollars for the first time ever. The event holds special significance this year in that 2022 marks the 32th anniversary of Korea Semiconductor Industry Association (KSIA, founded in November 11^th, 1991), infusing the semiconductor industry with hope of overcoming new challenges through innovation.

Sanghun Jeon was nominated for the commendation from the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy thanks to his worldwide leadership and contribution in innovating thin-film processes and device manufacturing, creating research breakthroughs that help the commercialization of ferroelectric hafnium devices that are highly suitable for CMOS process.

Unlike the conventional devices whose computational capabilities are constrained by Moore’s law and von Neumann computer architectures and thereby impose significant limitation on device performance and energy efficiency, ferroelectric hafnium devices are expected to bring into reality Edge Intelligence (EI), which allows the local analysis of dataset and autonomous decision-making.

Sanghun Jeon and his research lab are developing key effective technologies related to ferroelectric hafnium devices, which are expected to play a key role in future device industry. The relevant research accomplishments were presented at IDEM 2021, one of the most prestigious conferences in the field of electronic devices.

They will also be presented at IDEM 2022. 

[Prof. Kayoung Lee]

KAIST EE Professor Kayoung Lee is selected for the Young Scholar Award at the 9th Korean Symposium on Graphene and 2D Materials, hold by the Korean Graphene Society. 

The Young Scholar Award is awarded to those who have made a great contribution to the Korean graphene and 2D materials field, among academics under the age of 40. 

Professor Kayoung Lee, as this year’s awardee, received the award with a prize of 1 million wons.

[Award ceremony picture, Society Chair, Prof. Jong-Hyun Anh, Prof. Kayoung Lee, from left ]

[Prof. Jae-Woong Jeong, Simok Lee, From Left ]

Ph.D. student Simok Lee (Advised by Jae-Woong Jeong) won the Best Paper Award at the 2022 Korean Sensors Society Autumn Conference.

The Korean Sensors Society Conference is a conference held every spring and fall, and this year, and this autumn conference was held in Yeosu from August 24th to 26th.

Ph.D. student Simok Lee has published a paper titled “Adaptive Electronic Skin with High Sensitivity and Large Bandwidth Based on Gallium Microdrop-Elastomer Composite”.

Details are follows. Congratulations once again to Ph.D. student Simok Lee and Professor Jae-Woong Jeong!

Conference: 2022 Korean Sensors Society Autumn Conference

Date: August 24-26, 2022

Award: Best Presentation Paper Award

Authors: Simok Lee, Sang-Hyuk Byun, Jae-Woong Jeong (Advisory Professor)

Paper Title: Adaptive Electronic Skin with High Sensitivity and Large Bandwidth based on Gallium Microdroplet-Elastomer Composite