Major Activities

• “Plasma resistant ceramic composite for semiconductor manufacturing facility” SCI paper published
• “Ceramic nanofiber membrane modified with photocatalyst and method for manufacturing the same” (Europe/20770229.1) patent applied and (Korea/2260674) patent registered
• “Silicon nitride ceramic and manufacturing method of the same” (Korea/2206446) patent registered and 1 highquality paper published
• “Ceramic membrane having excellent fouling resistance by surface modification and water treatment method using the same” (Korea/2006133) patent registered
• “Transparent Y₂O₃ polycrystalline ceramics” (Korea/2244157) patent registered and 4 papers published
• tech transfer : sintering of Si₃N₄ ceramic plate (UJL Co. Ltd., 30million KRW)
• press release : Development of plasma resistant nano-composite ceramic for reduction of contaminating particles in semiconductor manufacturing

Major Research Area

• Fabrication of high strength/high fracture toughness/wear-resistant/low-cost non-oxide ceramics
• Transparent polycrystalline ceramics for application in the ballistic proof/IR window and laser emission
• Manufacturing and surface modification technology of porous ceramics for water treatment application
• Flexible ceramic nanofibers for developing air/water filtration media

Future Research Plan

• Development of optical grade transparent ceramics for laser emission
• Development of ‘90W/m·K-900MPa’ level substrate for power device
• Development of Si₃N₄ bearings for advanced processing machine
• Development of environment-friendly porous ceramic materials for purification

Major R&D Activities

Si₃N₄ ceramics for EV inverter by pressureless sintering process

[Introduction]

• Heat-dissipation ceramic substrate, a must-requisite component with high durability&reliablity for EV power modules
• Commercial Si₃N₄ substrates are sintered at 1900℃ / 9 atm N₂, so the capital and process-cost of the equipment as well as maintenance work are difficult
• To improve competitiveness by reducing equipment investment/maintenance/process cost by developing Si₃N₄ substrates with pressureless sintering at 1800℃ / 1 atm N₂
• Development goal of a new composition to reveal thermal conductivity of 75 W/m·K or more by pressureless sintering

[Research and Results]

• Development of >70 W/m·K class new composition through exploration of various oxide additive combinations
• Developed Si₃N₄ ceramics up to 77.9 W/m·K through pressureless sintering process at 1750℃ / 1 atm N₂
• Highest thermal conductivity among known pressureless sintered Si₃N₄ ceramics (Previous record : 75.6 W/m·K, Ceram. Int. 2021)

Plasma resistant ceramic for the reduction of contaminating particles in semiconductor manufacturing Introduction

[Introduction]

• Development of plasma resistant ceramic materials coping with high power plasma needed for reduction of line width
• nano-composite Y₂O₃·MgO with excellent control of surface roughness on plasma etching
• The enhancement of material properties and plasma resistance of YAG ceramic to substitute high-cost Y₂O₃ ceramic

[Research and Results]

• Development of Y₂O₃·MgO nano-composite featuring grain size 300nm – surface roughness Ra=2.3nm after etching’
  - world 1^st-nanometer grain-sized plasma resistant ceramic (press release)
  - shed a light on commercialization by using commercial powders
• 1 micron grain-sized YAG by means of optimized milling and hot press sintering

Investigation of reticulated porous ceramics for applications

• Tailoring pore structures and the mechanical properties of reticulated porous zirconia and characterizing thereof
• Controlling the pore structure : pore size (sub-mm) and compressive strength (>3MPa)

Flexible ceramic nanofibers for developing filtration media

• Flexible ceramic nanofibers not only improve the weak durability of polymeric filters but also enhance the brittleness of ceramics.
• These flexible ceramic nanofibers can be applied for developing microfiltration (MF) and HEPA filters for water/air purification process.