The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM), under the Ministry of Science and ICT (President Park Sang-jin), has developed the world's first next-generation 2D semiconductor process technology that offers superior performance and reduced power consumption compared to silicon-based semiconductor technology, amidst global attention on future industries such as artificial intelligence, GPT, the Internet of Things (IoT), and autonomous driving.

A joint research team consisting of Dr. Hyung-Woo Kim from the Plasma Research Laboratory at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) and Professor Tae-Sung Kim from Sungkyunkwan University (President Yoo Ji-Beom) announced on the 22nd that they have developed a 4-inch large-area atomic layer etching technology for the next-generation semiconductor molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) using plasma-based reactive ion etcher (RIE) equipment.

In the case of conventional silicon-based semiconductors, as the linewidth of semiconductor chips narrows due to microfabrication, process control down to the atomic level is required. On the other hand, as silicon becomes thinned to atomic layer thickness, precise processing of single-atom thickness is difficult due to the tunneling effect.

Although it was difficult to uniformly form large areas of MoS2-based semiconductors, this study developed a process capable of etching MoS2 to a desired atomic layer thickness over a large area of 4 inches using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PVD) equipment and RIE equipment, laying the foundation for mass production of MoS2 semiconductors.

MoS2 can maintain excellent semiconductor performance, with an on/off ratio—a semiconductor performance indicator—that is more than 1,000 times higher than that of conventional silicon. However, there is a disadvantage in that impurities remain on the semiconductor surface during the plasma etching process, requiring an additional process to remove them. The research team solved this problem by introducing a computational science screening system based on Density Functional Theory (DFT).

Kim Hyung-woo, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, stated, “Recently, the importance of processes capable of controlling the fine linewidth of semiconductor chips has been highlighted in future industries such as AI, GPT, IoT, autonomous driving, and cloud computing.” He added, “Through this technology development, we expect to contribute to the development of the semiconductor industry by improving MoS2 semiconductors to a mass production level using a 2D next-generation semiconductor process.”

This research was selected as a cover article and published in the prestigious international journal 'Chemistry of Materials' in February 2023, and was conducted with support from the KIMM basic project 'Development of Original Technology Based on Plasma Equipment for Core Processes in the Semiconductor and Display Industries'.