It was revealed that there are many cases where domestic sensor companies fail to commercialize due to lack of time, manpower, and capital in a situation where semiconductor companies that make automobile sensors have to conduct actual vehicle tests.

The Korea Semiconductor Research Association and the Advanced Sensor Forum held the 'Convergence Sensor Field Consortium Corporate Council' on the 22nd.

The event was held to enhance the technological development and commercialization performance of domestic sensor companies and to provide a venue for information and communication related to the latest technology and sensor industry.


In the presentations that day, Professor Oh Yong-soo of Sungkyunkwan University presented on 'Development of MEMS-based ultra-small environmental sensors', Team Leader Yeon Gyu-bong of the Korea Automobile Research Institute presented on 'MEMS-based sensor technology for automobiles and system functional safety issues', Senior Researcher Lee Dae-sik of the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute presented on 'Development of IT-BT convergence sensors for early disease diagnosis', and Professor Kim Eui-gyeom of Ajou University presented on 'Development of force torque sensors for robots'.

Professor Oh Yong-su said that the development of ultra-small environmental sensors began with the aim of finding a way to measure actual environmental changes by applying MEMS technology to mobile and smart electronic products, and that it was a good way to utilize resonance points.They revealed that even with very small intensities, the results can be detected.

In addition, in order to simplify the process, the number of masks was simplified to four because the process becomes more complicated as the number of masks increases, and it was said that the SnS₂ synthesis method can detect various gases for environmental measurement, including NO₂ and CO₂.

Team leader Yeon Gyu-bong of the Automotive Research Institute introduced past cases of automotive sensor development and said that the current automotive sensor market is highly dependent on overseas markets, and therefore domestic production is urgently needed.

He introduced acceleration and angular velocity sensors, and mentioned that voice recognition sensors, such as microphones, are also used to observe the rain conditions on the road, and that voice recognition sensors can also be used in various ways.

He also said that current automobile sensors need to develop technologies that support autonomous driving levels 4 and 5, and that technologies that increase the integrity and safety levels of vehicles are among the most important issues.

During the Q&A session regarding automotive sensors, participants expressed various opinions.

Some participants stated that in order to supply semiconductors to automakers, semiconductor companies must conduct actual vehicle tests and submit performance reports to module manufacturers, and that auto sensor companies are in a difficult situation as they are increasingly short on engineers.

In particular, there were opinions that there are many difficulties in developing automotive sensors, saying that in order to supply semiconductors to finished vehicle manufacturers by installing them in module manufacturers, time, manpower, and capital are needed, but all three are in short supply, and that there will be no finished vehicle manufacturers willing to wait for this.

Some participants advised that if a product's profit period is 6 years, it should catch up in 2-3 years and withdraw from the market after 5 years in order to survive.

Thirdly, Dr. Lee Dae-sik of ETRI is in the biomedical market.He emphasized the importance of original technology and sensors, and stated that in order to commercialize biosensors, it is necessary to develop performance improvement technology through sensor assembly and improve measurement models using sensor data.

In addition, past biosensor development cases, such as blood sugar meters and early detection of lung cancer, were introduced.

Lastly, Professor Kim Eui-gyeom of Ajou University introduced a case of sensor development that can be applied to various robots, saying that he started developing sensors himself due to the high price of sensors in robot manufacturing.

In particular, he mentioned the case of the Kapanji test that imitates a human hand, and said that they performed a performance test by attaching sensors to the tips of the robot's fingers and developed an economical product with better performance than existing commercial products.

However, he mentioned that since it was developed in a laboratory environment, more experiments in various environments are needed for future commercialization, and further research is needed on changes in the sensor according to humidity and packaging technology.

Seungjin Yoo, head of the Advanced Sensor Lab at the Research Support Center of the Korea Semiconductor Research Association, who hosted this event, said that convergence sensors can simultaneously collect various information such as temperature, humidity, pressure, gas concentration, sound, images, and movement, and are therefore utilized in various applications. He also said that we must seize a wide range of business opportunities in various fields such as the environment, automobiles, bio, and machinery that were announced today.