Professors Sumin Kim and Jiseop Oh Win New Basic Research Laboratory Grant for "AI Photonic Integration Platform"
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- Writer 커뮤니케이션팀
- 보도일자 2026-06-22
(from left) Professor Sumin Kim, Department of Chemistry; Professor Jiseop Oh, Division of Materials Physics.
Professor Sumin Kim of the Department of Chemistry and Professor Jiseop Oh of the Division of Materials Physics have been selected for a new project under the 2026 Basic Research Laboratory (BRL) program of the Ministry of Science and ICT.
The government-funded program supports small group research projects to strengthen the nation's basic research capacity and cultivate outstanding researchers. It is divided into two tracks: an "advancement" track, which deepens existing research, and a "pioneering" track, which backs creative and challenging work in new fields.
Working alongside Professors Youngduck Kim of Kyung Hee University and Sejeong Kim of Sungkyunkwan University, Kim and Oh's team was selected in the pioneering track within the physics field of natural sciences for their project, "Omni-BN Photonic Integration Laboratory for Ultra-Low-Power AI Computing." The team will receive 500 million won annually over three years through 2028, totaling 1.5 billion won.
The team aims to develop a next-generation photonic integration platform that consolidates light generation, transmission, modulation, and computing functions into a single material based on boron nitride (BN).
As AI semiconductors grow more advanced, power consumption and heat generation have become increasingly serious challenges, making the development of ultra-low-power, high-speed photonic integration technology a critical priority. Through an original approach that unifies multiple functions within a single material, the team plans to move beyond the limits of existing integration paradigms and lay the foundation for realizing future AI photonic semiconductors.
"Integrating everything from the light source to computing using a single material is a challenge that researchers worldwide have yet to solve—but that is precisely why it holds such promise," Kim said. "By pursuing creative and distinctive research, we will secure the underlying core technologies and develop them into a next-generation photonic semiconductor technology with real-world applications."