Professor Sunkook Kim at the Department of Electronics and Radio Engineering won the Young Scientist Award 2015 from the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and the Korean Academy of Science and Technology.

The Young Scientist Award is a prestigious national prize for young researchers under age forty in the field of science and engineering who has demonstrated remarkable achievements and high potential for future development. Professor Kim was chosen in particular for his work on high mobility Chalcogenide-based transistor and new laser annealing process that made a new breakthrough for the next generation flexible thin-film transistors (TFT) for wearable sensory reinforcement devices.

Artificial sensory reinforcement to help people with disabilities
Professor Kim''s research goal is to develop a system of electronic devices that can reinforce human senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch). He said, "I want to create electronic devices that can reinforce or replace human sensory organs in case of failure, accident, or disability." Professor Kim had been working on the base technological format, and in 2015 developed electronic artificial skin-type sensors that can reinforce the sense of touch. This sensor has since been used in various applications such as medical, display, agriculture, and construction.

Sensory reinforcement device is the product of convergence between IT and biotechnology that is rapidly becoming a core area of innovation involving wearable devices, bilateral interconnected display, robotics, medicine, and others. It requires completely new semiconductors with different performance characteristics such as flexibility, stretchability, and malleability while maintaining electronic stability. In 2012 Professor Kim developed MoS2 (Molybdenum disulfide) based multilayer TFTs for the first time in the world, and the new selective laser annealing process technology led to the development of artificial skin-type touch sensor which is expected to breach a new area of innovation for wearable electronic devices. He published four articles on the cover of Nature Communications and Advanced Materials; he also acquired nine international and 23 national patents.

"Development of new technology primed by the desire to learn new disciplines and technologies"
Professor Kim said, "I was able to develop the new wearable sensory reinforcement device because I had a desire to constantly learn new things and was not afraid to import ideas outside my immediate area of specialty. Even now I am actively conversant with my colleagues in other disciplines such as oriental medicine, material engineering, life science, physics, and so on." He plans to continue his work on high-mobility TFTs and diverse practical applications for the new technology through convergence studies.

Translated by Tae Hun Kim