ETRI to collaborate on semiconductor technology with US Argonne National Laboratory

(Press-News.org) Korean researchers will begin collaborating in earnest with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) on semiconductor technology research.

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced on Jan. 6 (local time) that it has agreed to establish a mutual cooperation system to develop semiconductor technologies with Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, USA.

ETRI has possessed the technology to develop and manufacture silicon detectors for high-energy particle detectors since the early 2000s and is the only government-funded research institute in Korea capable of silicon batch processing.

ANL has been collaborating with ETRI since 2023 to build a monolithic active pixel sensor (MAPS) with a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) IC.

With this cooperation system established, ETRI and ANL plan to join forces to develop new semiconductor technology to detect and analyze high-energy particles generated in space environments.

Bang Seung Chan, the president of ETRI, said, “The MOU to collaborate on semiconductors will combine ANL’s research capabilities with ETRI’s technology to open up new opportunities for the future.”

Paul Kearns, the director of ANL, also said, “We hope that by expanding our cooperation to various technological fields in the future, as well as the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), we can serve as a foundation for technological development between the two countries.”

Through this MOU, ETRI will strive to manufacture semiconductor detectors domestically to secure the competitiveness of semiconductor technologies that can withstand extreme environments with high and low temperatures and strong radiation, and contribute to the industrialization of technologies in the aerospace and defense sectors.

On the same day, ETRI held a meeting with about 10 Korean scientists at ANL to hear their opinions on local research activities and international R&D cooperation, and to discuss mutual cooperation plans.

1) Silicon detector: A silicon semiconductor used to detect charge carriers generated by particles such as radiation and photon

2) Silicon batch process: Hundreds of process steps from start to finish to create a silicon-based semiconductor chip

3) Monolithic active pixel sensor (MAPS): An acronym for Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor, a silicon semiconductor that integrates a detector to detect charge carriers produced by particles and a CMOS IC to process the electrical signal generated by the detector

4) Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) IC: An acronym for Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Integrated Circuit, a semiconductor component designed to minimize power consumption and enable high-speed operation by integrating numerous electronic components, including n-type and p-type transistors, resistors, diodes, capacitors, and inductors, on a single small chip

5) Electron ion collider (EIC): An experimental device that rapidly accelerates electrons, which are very small particles, to collide with ions to study the basic structure of the universe, how matter forms, and how particles in the universe interact.

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About Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI)

ETRI is a non-profit government-funded research institute. Since its foundation in 1976, ETRI, a global ICT research institute, has been making its immense effort to provide Korea a remarkable growth in the field of ICT industry. ETRI delivers Korea as one of the top ICT nations in the World, by unceasingly developing world’s first and best technologies.

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