▲ The Integrated Systems Laboratory (Advisor: Professor Chulwoo Kim) of the Korea University School of Electrical Engineering has won the Presidential Award at the 25th Korea Semiconductor Design Contest.
(From left) Junseob So (Ph.D. candidate), Changmin Shim (Ph.D. candidate), Seongcheol Kim (Ph.D. candidate), Seon-Been Lee (Integrated Master’s-Ph.D. program). (Photo courtesy of the Integrated Systems Laboratory (AISL: Advanced Integrated System Lab.))
 

Professor Chulwoo Kim’s research team from the Integrated Systems Laboratory at the Korea University School of Electrical Engineering, comprising Seongcheol Kim, Changmin Shim, Junseob So, and Seon-Been Lee, received the Presidential Award at the 25th Korea Semiconductor Design Contest awards ceremony held on the 24th at COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul.


The Korea Semiconductor Design Contest is a specialized semiconductor design competition jointly organized by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association. It aims to nurture semiconductor design skills among university (graduate) students and discover creative ideas. Many prominent figures in the semiconductor industry, including professors and fabless company executives, have previously received awards at this event. This year, a total of 20 outstanding projects were selected for recognition.


The research team won the Presidential Award (Grand Prize) for their design titled "A 0.458-pJ/bit 24-Gb/s/pin Capacitively Driven PAM-4 Transceiver With PAM-Based Crosstalk Cancellation for High-Density Die-to-Die Interfaces." The winning project is a high-density die-to-die (D2D) interface chip for chiplet technology. Chiplet technology is actively being researched as a method to overcome the performance and cost limitations of traditional monolithic SoCs. However, achieving higher bandwidth density requires increasing the data rate per pin and reducing the physical spacing between signals, which exacerbates signal interference (crosstalk). This project introduces the first-ever PAM-4 signaling-based crosstalk cancellation technology, effectively mitigating signal interference. Additionally, by designing a receiver circuit that operates in both voltage and time domains, the project significantly enhances data transmission efficiency between chiplets. The award-winning design has been filed for patents in both Korea and the United States and has been recognized for its creativity and excellence by being published in IEEE JSSC, the most prestigious journal in the field of semiconductor integrated circuits.


Seongcheol Kim, a Ph.D. candidate, expressed his thoughts on the achievement:
"I am delighted that our research has been highly evaluated, allowing us to receive the Presidential Award. This honor would not have been possible without the invaluable guidance and support of Professor Chulwoo Kim and the encouragement of my fellow researchers at the Integrated Systems Laboratory. During my graduate studies, I will strive to develop world-class interface circuit technology and continue studying and researching to become an expert in semiconductor circuit design."