SKKU team invents new semiconductor

Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) announced on Thursday that it has developed a powerful new semiconductor material.

Known as the semiconductor-insulator-semiconductor (SIS) diode, the material has an electric current capacity up to 100,000 larger than existing materials and photo-responsiveness up to 30 times higher.

The material was developed by a joint research team comprising Lee Young-hee, a physics professor at SKKU and director of the Institute for Basic Science (IBS); Jeong Mun-seok, an assistant professor of energy science at SKKU; and Jeong Hyun, a post-doctoral research associate from the Universite de Technologie de Troyes in France.

The team developed the SIS diode using molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), hexagonal boron nitride and gallium nitride (GaN). MoS2 and GaN are known for their efficiency in absorbing and emitting light, making them ideal for photoelectric devices.

“The material is thin enough to be measured on the nanometer scale and takes less time and cost to manufacture,” the team said in a statement. “Future photoelectric devices produced using this technology could include image sensors, ultra-thin solar batteries, light emitting diodes and more.”

The research was conducted as a part of a development program by the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning, and supported by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Center for Integrated Nano Structure Physics (Cinap), which belongs to IBS.

Cinap was recently established to perform research in the fields of fundamental and applied physics, and to nurture young nanophysicists and nanoscientists.

BY KIM JEE-HEE [kim.jeehee@joongang.co.kr]