KAIST Professor Kyung Wook Paik from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering was awarded the Best Paper Award at the 2014 Pan Pacific Microelectronic Symposium hosted by the Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA) at Hawaii last month. While Professor Paik’s laboratory has already been under the spotlight for producing three Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC) Intel Best Student Paper award-winning students during the past few years, now it was Professor Paik’s turn to shine. Professor Paik presented his research “Nano-fiber Anisotropic Conductive Adhesives for Ultra Fine Pitch Chip-on-Film Packaging” and received recognition for his distinction and creativity in his work.
The research team’s nano-fiber grafted version of the anisotropic conductive film (ACF) makes ultra fine pitch interconnection a reality, which has been an issue with current versions of the film. Such ACFs are widely used in flat displays and touch panels, so Professor Paik’s research is bound to have wide uses in future ultra high definition (UHD) televisions, which carry four times the current pixel density and hence increases the need for ultra fine pitch chip-on-film packaging.
The problem with the conventional ACF is that short-circuiting occurs when the gap between two electrodes reaches the micron level, meaning the current does not flow as desired. The ACF used in the research is a means of electrical connection between two electrodes, akin to a double-sided tape that evenly distributes micro conductive particles across dozens of microns of the gap. This polymer film embedded with nano-fibers shows anisotropic behavior when fit between two electrical components, as current flows through the electrodes but not in the perpendicular direction; this guarantees current flow in only one direction and prevents short circuiting between parallel components.
Professor Paik told The KAIST Herald, “The research was conducted with several doctorial candidates and I am pleased to have worked with them over the course of the project. […] Also, I am glad that I was able to bring the department and KAIST to greater repute.”
The Pan Pacific Microelectronics Symposium provides a premier international conference that brings together the best microelectronics professionals and business leaders from around the world and fosters international technical interchange.