UNIST(총장 박종래) 전기전자공학과 권지민 교수, 이용우 박사는 POSTECH(총장 김성근) 신소재공학과 정성준 교수와 함께 폴리머 쇼트키 다이오드의 안정성을 오래 확보하는 기술을 개발했다. 기존의 수분과 산소에 의한 다이오드 성능 저하 문제를 극복한 것이다.

▲(From left) Dr. Lee Yong-woo and Professor Kwon Ji-min
UNIST develops technology to secure stability of polymer Schottky diodes
A new technology has been developed to wirelessly transfer power to wearable devices, which is expected to allow them to be used longer and more efficiently.
Professor Kwon Ji-min and Dr. Lee Yong-woo of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at UNIST (President Park Jong-rae) have developed a technology to secure the stability of polymer Schottky diodes for a long time, together with Professor Jeong Seong-jun of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at POSTECH (President Kim Seong-geun). This overcomes the existing problem of diode performance degradation due to moisture and oxygen.
The research team solved the problem between polymers and metals and implemented a thin but stable Schottky diode. It allows electricity to flow in only one direction, enabling the use of high-performance wearable devices with low power.
A Schottky diode is a diode made of a junction between a metal and a semiconductor, and has high-speed switching and low-voltage operation characteristics.
In particular, the Schottky diode maintains the efficiency of electric current flow by adding an oxide layer between the metal and the polymer. It is expected to be of great help in the development of fast wireless communication and energy collection technology as it can stably process 13.56MHz signals even on flexible substrates.
The research team conducted various experiments to determine the cause of the diode performance degradation. They found that the main cause was a problem between the semiconductor layer and the cathode metal layer. This was analyzed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry, and systematically clarified through electrical analysis.
“Wearable device research has made a lot of progress, but stability issues in wireless power transfer have not yet been resolved,” said lead author Dr. Lee Yong-woo.
He added, “The technology we have developed this time is a flexible wireless power transmission technology that does not degrade in performance for several months, and will be of great help in researching next-generation wearable devices.”
The research results were published online on July 18 in the Nature Partner Journal Flexible Electronics (npj Flexible Electronics), an authoritative international academic journal in the field of electronic engineering. The research was conducted with the support of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) of the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Institute of IT Planning and Evaluation (IITP), and the Korea Research and Development Institute Promotion Foundation (INNOPOLIS).