Minimizing electrical interference within semiconductors
Integration becomes possible through material development


A material that can make components inside semiconductor chips smaller has been developed domestically.

Professor Shin Hyun-seok's team from the Department of Natural Sciences at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) has succeeded in developing an 'ultra-low dielectric insulator' that can make semiconductor devices finer through international joint research with Shin Hyun-jin's team from Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology and the Institute for Basic Science (IBS).

The permittivity is the sensitivity to external electric fields. A low permittivity reduces electrical interference, which allows for a smaller spacing between metal wires in semiconductor devices.

An insulator is a material that does not allow current to flow. Usually, an insulator is inserted between the electron paths in the metal wiring of a semiconductor device to prevent electrons from escaping to other parts.

One way to increase data processing speed while reducing the size of semiconductor devices is to lower the dielectric constant of the insulator. The joint research team succeeded in synthesizing 'amorphous boron nitride material' with a dielectric constant that is 30% lower than that of existing insulators.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and UNIST announced that this result was published in Nature (IF 43.070) at 00:00 on June 25, Korean time.

The insulator currently used in semiconductor processes is porous organosilicate (p-SiCOH), which has a dielectric constant of about 2.5. The amorphous boron nitride synthesized by the research team this time has a dielectric constant of 1.78, and has discovered a new material with a dielectric constant of less than 2.5, which was considered a technologically difficult problem.

Using theoretical calculations and the 4D beamline at Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, the research team also discovered that the reason for the low permittivity of amorphous boron nitride is due to the irregularity of the atomic arrangement.

In addition, in the past, there was a problem of weakening the strength by inserting tiny air holes into the material to lower the permittivity, but amorphous boron nitride can maintain high mechanical strength without this work because the permittivity of the material itself is low.

“While studying whether hexagonal boron nitride (white graphene) is deposited on a substrate at low temperatures, we discovered the dielectric properties of amorphous boron nitride and confirmed its applicability as a semiconductor insulator,” said Seok-Mo Hong, a doctoral student at UNIST and the first author of the study.

Professor Shin Hyun-seok of UNIST, the corresponding author of the paper, emphasized, “If this material is commercialized, it will be of great help in overcoming the crisis facing the semiconductor industry, such as China’s semiconductor rise and Japan’s export regulations,” and “It is a key material technology that can continue the ‘semiconductor super gap strategy.’”

This study was conducted by the UK, a partner of the European Union's Graphene Flagship project. Professor Manish Chowalla of the University of Cambridge and Professor Stephane Roche of the Institute of Nanoscience and Technology of Catalonia in Spain participated.

This research was supported by the Basic Research Laboratory, Mid-career Research (Strategy), and Institute for Basic Science (IBS) of the Ministry of Science and ICT, and Samsung Electronics.