Chonbuk University announced that Prof. Daesuk Kim (Mechanical System Engineering) has been selected for the "Samsung Future Technology Promotion Project" and will receive 600 million Korean won (approximately 600 thousand US dollars) over two years to develop an innovative technique for the next-generation semiconductor production process.

The project is supported by Samsung Electronics in fostering the nation's future technology with a total of 1.5 trillion KRW (1.5 billion USD) in the research fields of basic science, materials technology, and information and communications technologies (ICT) for 10 years from 2013.

It takes a long time to measure the process uniformity and to distinguish defects in the in-line process of semiconductor production. Securing the fundamental technology to overcome such limitation of the currently commercialized testing techniques, such as spectroscopic ellipsometry and imaging ellipsometry, is one of the core tasks of the world’s semiconductor industry.

Prof. Kim will develop a technique that can solve the problem by dramatically increasing the production yield rate through real-time measurement of the three-dimensional patterns of lithography and thin film processing as well as nano thin films, which is expected to provide a new solution for inspection and measurement.

Kim’s team set a goal to provide a new paradigm by developing a high speed precision measurement technique, in close cooperation with the Korea Standards Research Institute (KSRI) and Utsunomiya University of Japan.

"Spectroscopic polarizing technology is a promising industrial field with a market size of more than 1 trillion KRW (1 billion USD), which is the core of the inspection and measurement technology of the electronic industry including semiconductors," Kim said. “We will be able to apply this technique to display and wearable devices, creating an economic ripple effect of over 100 billion won both at home and abroad."

An opticist, Prof. Kim developed a real-time 3D micronano measurement technology using light, overcoming the limitations of existing measurement methods. He has published more than 40 SCI articles, as well as registering more than 20 international and domestic patents in related fields.

Kim was awarded the “Best Science and Technology Award” by The Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies, and the “JOSK Award” by the Optical Society of Korea.