Keynote speech at 'SEMICON Korea 2022' opening on the 9th
In the hyper-connected era, cooperation is essential for semiconductor innovation.

Kim Hyung-seop, head of the Samsung Electronics Semiconductor Research Institute, requested unlimited cooperation from not only the industry but also academia and government agencies to achieve semiconductor innovation.

Director Kim emphasized cooperation to overcome technological limitations in his online keynote speech at 'SEMICON Korea 2022', which opened on the 9th.

He said, “The semiconductor industry would not have been able to grow without technological innovations in the fields of structure, process, equipment, and materials, as well as challenges to the limits of technology.” He added, “More innovation will be needed in the future, and I believe this will be possible through limitless cooperation among academia, government agencies, and material companies.”

As face-to-face activities are restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, activities that used to involve physical contact, such as medical services, video work, and classes, have been replaced by non-face-to-face activities.

This led to the expansion of infrastructure required for non-face-to-face connections, the growth of related services, and cultural changes, leading to the era of hyperconnectivity.

Today, countless devices around us are connected in real time through 5G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and other data communication modules, and these technologies are growing rapidly.

The increase in connectivity between devices leads to an explosion of data.

Currently, about 64ZB of data is created each year, while 2It is projected that by 2025, 181ZB of data will be created, a three-fold increase.

Demand for semiconductors has also increased due to the explosion of data, and the industry expects continued growth.

The semiconductor market's sales have been steadily increasing, driven by memory sectors such as DRAM and NAND.

The hyper-connected era would not have been possible without semiconductors, and semiconductors will remain essential now and in the future, explains Director Kim.

As demand increased, innovations in semiconductor technology followed to meet the need for improved performance.

In the fields of logic, DRAM, and flash, transistors have been made smaller to increase material density and to enable operation in low-power environments.

Transistors have also been studied for structural changes in the form of high-rise structures and dielectric materials to maximize electrical capacity.

The decrease in photons per pixel and the increase in noise due to inter-pixel interference resulting from the high integration of CIS were overcome through improvements in the device structure.

Kim said that without stopping there, they are trying to change the structure of the product itself to innovate semiconductors.

DRAM is researching technologies to change the structure of cell transistors or eliminate capacitors, and in the logic field, academia and the manufacturing industry are researching technologies to place power networks on the back of the wafer to reduce power consumption and improve performance.

Among them, Atomic Layer Etch is a technology that etches the etching target at the atomic level, and is a technology that can satisfy the detailed etching precision and uniformity required for fine pattern patterning.

Meanwhile, Director Kim also expressed a sense of responsibility towards the environment.

He said, “About 60% of global CO2 emissions are generated by industry and energy production processes.” “The industry needs to think about and work hard to address the large amount of energy used and by-products emitted when producing products,” he said.