□ The Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science & Technology (DGIST; President Kunwoo Lee) steps up to secure original semiconductor technologies through global joint research with the European Union (EU). Korea and the EU have selected a total of four joint research consortia for technological cooperation in the semiconductor field, with DGIST participating in two of the consortia as the lead research and development organization.
□ Korea and the EU signed the Korea-EU Digital Partnership back in November 2022 in an effort to strengthen cooperation in semiconductors. Under this partnership, the Ministry of Science and ICT, the European Commission (EC), and the Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU), an organization designed to provide semiconductor research and development support under the EC, consulted with each other for approximately 16 months and jointly implemented the entire process, including the announcement of projects in February this year and the receipt and evaluation of potential projects.
□ Subsequently, a total of four joint research consortium projects were selected, and DGIST (two projects), Sungkyunkwan University, and Hanyang University participated as the lead research and development organizations. The Korea-EU Semiconductor Joint Research will be conducted for three years, from July 2024 to June 2027, in the fields of heterogeneous integration and neuromorphic and funded by Korea with a total of KRW 8.4 billion (KRW 2.1 billion per project) and by the EU with approximately EUR 6 million (EUR 1.5 million per project).
□ Professor Jonghyeok Yoon at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, DGIST will conduct global joint research on the technological development of “a silicon photonics-based solid-state LiDAR data neuromorphic computation accelerator.” Thanks to autonomous vehicles, mobile device manufacturing, and smart factory construction, the market for LiDAR sensors has been growing over the years and is expected to reach KRW 4.2 trillion by 2025. To ensure research competitiveness in the field of LiDAR sensors, the research team intends to develop original technologies related to “multiple layers (device, circuit design, and system) for high-performance low-power neuromorphic computing systems,” which can process massive amounts of point cloud data at a lower cost than before.
□ Professor Sangyoon Han at the Department of Robotics and Mechatronics Engineering, DGIST will conduct global joint research on “heterogeneous integration multi-material photonic integrated circuit chiplets for neuromorphic optical transfer learning artificial intelligence (AI) engines.” The research team wants to implement “low-power optics-based AI acceleration hardware” on a multi-material, heterogeneous integration-based photonic integrated circuit platform and use it in real-world applications. With this research, the team aims to improve computational energy efficiency by more than 10 times and build eco-friendly, energy-efficient ultra-broadband information and communications technology (ICT) solutions. Furthermore, it is also expected to strengthen the presence of Korea and Europe as a production hub of AI-accelerated hardware and contribute to expanding photonics-related industries while creating new jobs across Korea and Europe.
□ The Joint Research Consortium, led by DGIST as the lead research and development organization, is joined by IMEC from Belgium, which has the world’s finest capabilities in frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) LiDAR module research and semiconductor research and development, AUTH from Greece, which has the world’s best technology in all-optical signal processing and algorithms based on active materials, and Akhetonics from Germany, which is a promising startup in optics-based neuromorphic computing with know-how across a variety of optics-based AI hardware architectures.
□ “I am excited and thrilled that DGIST will participate in the Korea-EU Semiconductor Joint Research as the lead research and development organization,” said President Kunwoo Lee at DGIST. “With this joint research with the EU, we will further reinforce our global competitiveness in original semiconductor technologies and contribute to developing semiconductor technologies through innovative research and international collaboration.”
□ Meanwhile, DGIST (two projects), Sungkyunkwan University, and Hanyang University participate in Korea-EU Semiconductor Joint Research, which is jointly implemented under the Korea-EU Digital Partnership by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the European Commission (EC), and the Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU), an organization designed to provide semiconductor research and development support under the EC. The joint research consortia include 14 research institutions from 9 EU member states (Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and Austria) and 8 research institutions from Korea (Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Sogang University, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul National University, Kookmin University, and Soongsil University).
