KAIST
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) announced on March 12 that the research team led by Professor Kim Sang-ouk from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering succeeded in realizing the 20nm-class hyperfine pattern, known as the highest-level semiconductor pattern, on the flexible surface of graphene, utilizing a kind of molecular assembly technology.
The molecular assembly technology is to make flexible and soft polymers, such as plastic, liquid crystal and biological molecules, self-assembled into a desired form. The technology makes it possible to efficiently create nano-structures.
Professor Kim’s research team first formed a hyperfine pattern on graphene, which has excellent mechanical properties and can be easily moved to a desired substrate, through a molecular assembly technology called the “Block Copolymer,” and then realized a hyperfine pattern structure on the three-dimensional and flexible substrate.
This source technology can be applied to various kinds of materials. Furthermore, with this technology, there will be no need of installing high-priced manufacturing equipment to fabricate semiconductors because a simple mixture of materials through chemical interactions can lead to a self-assembled structure in any desired forms. In other words, semiconductors can be manufactured at a far cheaper cost, said the research team.
Professor Kim Sang-ouk explained, “Some flexible semiconductors have been developed using plastic substrates so far, but none of them have been commercialized. They are vulnerable to high temperature and consequently cannot tolerate the extreme process. But our team has made a breakthrough by using graphene, which has excellent mechanical properties, as material for circuit substrates.”
He added, “We will proceed with follow-up researches based on this source technology. We will make a challenge on the design of complex circuits including semiconductor ones.”
The research achievement was published in the international academic journal “Advanced Materials” as of March 6.