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Professor Hoi-Jun Yoo is a world-renowned expert in the field of semiconductor and developed the world’s first 256-mega SD RAM, successfully laying the foundation of AI semiconductor.

He contributed to the development of intelligent visual processors, neural network processing units (NPUs), and neuromorphic processors before deep neural network (DNN) started to gain attention. He specifically applied a neuron network-like network to intelligent visual processors to reduce power consumption, dramatically improving the energy efficiency and computation performance.

He also developed DNN-based NPU that is essential for object recognition and natural language processing and thus revolutionized the market for low-power AI semiconductor. Professor Hoi-Jun Yoo was the first Asian to give a keynote speech at the International Solid State Circuit Society (ISSCC) in 2019 in recognition of his research achievements.

In addition, the ‘PIM Semiconductor Design Research Center’ was established last year to lead the development of processing-in-memory (PIM) technology through the cooperation with companies and academia.

 

Professor Byung-Jin Cho discovered the semiconductor soft-breakdown (SBD) phenomenon for the first time and revealed its mechanism. Soft breakdown is an insulation breakdown phenomenon in which leakage current flows through a semiconductor gate insulating film and adversely affects the function of the gate insulating film and semiconductor.

Professor Byung-Jin Cho is a world-renowned authority in the field of High dielectric substrates, whose demand is increasing as the materials are replacing the silicon oxide insulating films.

Professor Byung-Jin Cho contributed to the development of semiconductor by applying the high dielectric substrates to charge trap-type memory for the first time. Along with SK Hynix and Jusung Engineering, he also contributed to the development of DRAM products that are equipped with high dielectric. He has published more than 600 papers in the field of semiconductor.

 

Dr. Daewon Kahng developed for the first time ‘MOSFET (Metal Oxide Film Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor)’, which has been established as the standard in semiconductor transistors. He contributed to the miniaturization of semiconductor transistors and mass production. Furthermore, he participated in the development of floating gates, a core technology for NAND flash memory. 

(Ph.D. candidate Yong-Bok Lee, Prof. Jun-Bo Yoon from Left)

Ph.D. candidate Yong-Bok Lee won the Outstanding Student Oral Presentation Award Finalist at the 36th IEEE MEMS 2023. This conference is a top-tier international conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems consisting of top players in academia and industry. Only 20 papers were nominated as finalists for the Outstanding Student Oral Presentation Award. The title is “A Fast and Energy-Efficient Nanoelectromechanical Non-Volatile Memory for In-memory Computing”. In this paper, a nanoelectromechanical non-volatile memory (NEM-NVM) with fast speed and low energy consumption was demonstrated, and new method for implementing an in-memory computing using the operating mechanism of the NEM-NVM was also presented.

 

• Conference: The 36th IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (IEEE MEMS 2023)

• Date & Location : 2023. 1.15 – 2023. 1.19,  Munich, Germany.

• Award: Outstanding Student Oral Presentation Award Finalist

• Awardee: Yong-Bok Lee, Ph.D. candidate (Prof. Jun-Bo Yoon)

• Title: A Fast and Energy-Efficient Nanoelectromechanical Non-Volatile Memory for In-memory Computing

• Authors: Yong-Bok Lee, Min-Ho Gang, Pan-Kyu Choi, Su-Hyun Kim, Tae-Soo Kim, So-Young Lee, and Jun-Bo Yoon 

 

[Uk Cheol Shin, Kwanyong Park and Byeong-Uk Lee and professor In So Kweon from left]

 

WACV is a major academic conference ranked 9^th in terms of the Google Scholar h-5 index within the field of computer vision.

The KAIST team’s award-winning work was among this year’s 641 published papers, which were by themselves selected out of 1,577 submission.

Titled ” Self-supervised Monocular Depth Estimation from Thermal Images via Adversarial Multi-spectral Adaptation”, their paper deals with the estimation of distance from a single thermal image, as one of the most difficult problems in computer vision involving challenges with the low resolution of thermal images and the lack of detailed image data labelled with temperature distribution. 

To address this problem, the team proposed a novel deep learning model that combines self-supervised learning with adversarial learning between multispectral images.

Unlike conventional methods that are limited by constraints such as the requirement of the exact camera settings, the model is able to learn without these constraints through the utilization of individual thermal and color images.

The model was tested in various experimental conditions such as day, night and poor illumination, and high performance was achieved under various conditions compared to the existing method.

[Gyuwan Kim]

 

Talent Award Korea, which is hosted by Ministry of Education and Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science & Creativity, aims to recognize and celebrate young and outstanding individuals.

The ceremony for 2022 Talent Award of Korea was held at Government Complex Sejong Convention Center on 29th Afternoon. Gyuwan Kim, who is a R&D officer for Republic of Korea Army (ROKA) and a KAIST EE graduate student, has been nominated for the young/university sector for his remarkable achievement in the field of optical communication and its application in defense science & technology.

Recipients of Talent Award of Korea have been carefully selected through regional and central examination of the 50 high school students and 50 university students / youth, who are recommended by heads of schools and institutions that they belong to.

The award recipients also received a monetary reward of 2,000,000 KRW.

 

 

Related Link: https://m.newspim.com/news/view/20221229000227

EE Professor Minkyu Je is awarded the Haedong Semiconductor Engineering Award.

 

Professor Minkyu Je of our department won the “Haedong Semiconductor Engineering Award” at the 2022 regular meeting of the Semiconductor Engineering Society held at the Seoul aT Center on December 7th.

The Haedong Science and Culture Foundation has made a lot of effort and dedication to discovering and motivating talent for technological development and industry in Korea.

In particular, in 2021, the “Haedong Semiconductor Engineering Award” was established for the semiconductor industry and technology to provide a cornerstone for discovering semiconductor talent.

This year’s 2nd “Haedong Semiconductor Engineering Award” is more meaningful because it is given now that the importance of the semiconductor field is being highlighted more than ever in the world

 

[Prof. Minkyu Je]

 

Professor Minkyu Je has conducted leading research in the field of biomedical and sensor interface integrated circuits/microsystems since the early 2000s while working at the IME Research Center under A*STAR in Singapore. He was awarded because it played an important role in leading the level of domestic research in this field to the world level by continuing the highest level of research. 

Since he has played an important role in leading the level of domestic research in this field to the world level by continuing the highest level of research, he was awarded. He is recognized internationally as a major researcher who has greatly contributed to the pioneering and development of the field, and is playing a role as a leading researcher in this field in Korea.

 In recognition of excellent research achievements in the field of circuits and systems for next-generation medical devices and neuronal interfaces, he was selected as a Distinguished Lecturer by the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society (CASS) in 2020, and he presented a total of 110 SCI journal papers and 252 international conference papers.

 In particular, a total of 76 papers were published in various IEEE excellent journals related to the field, and a total of 25 papers were presented at the highest level international conferences, IEEE ISSCC, IEEE SOVC, and IEEE CICC. 

In addition, through research in this field, a total of 24 foreign patents and a total of 26 domestic patents were registered, and a total of 30 patents are pending domestic/overseas applications. 

Through active cooperation with start-ups and SMEs as well as large companies in related fields, he has significantly contributed to securing technological competitiveness in the bio/medical device and IoT sensor fields, creating and revitalizing the industrial ecosystem, and securing future growth engines targeting emerging markets. 

 

 

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

 

EE professor Joo-Young Kim receives the Science and ICT Minister’s Award

-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.