[E-Daily Reporter JAEMIN SONG ] SK hynix recognized achievements in industry-academia collaborative research, including high-speed memory interfaces and next-generation electrode technologies needed for the age of artificial intelligence (AI).

SK hynix announced on the 16th that it held the “2026 Industry-Academia Research Project Excellence in Invention Awards Ceremony” at its Icheon Campus in Gyeonggi Province. After reviewing 26 industry-academia patents filed last year, the company selected a total of five winners: one Grand Prize, one Excellence Award, and three Encouragement Awards.

The event was attended by key executives and staff from the company’s technology and patent divisions, including Cha Seon-yong, Head of the Future Technology Research Institute; Chae Hee-seok, Head of the Legal and Patent Division; Kim Jae-beom, Head of R&D Strategy; and Kim Yeon-soo, Head of Patents.

The Industry-Academia Research Project Excellence in Invention Awards Ceremony has been held annually since 2013 to recognize inventions with outstanding technical achievements and high patent value resulting from research conducted jointly with universities.

The Grand Prize was awarded to a patent related to “Circuit Design for Next-Generation Multi-Level Signal Transmission” by Professor Choi Woo-seok of Seoul National University. This technology transmits data between processing chips and memory quickly and with low power consumption while reducing power noise generated during high-speed operation.

The research team improved the circuit design in the “PAM3” method—which transmits data using three-level voltage signals—to enhance data transmission stability. Through actual measurements, they confirmed more stable transmission performance compared to existing methods, and the related patent was jointly filed with SK hynix.

The Excellence Award was awarded to Professor Kim Hyung-jun of Yonsei University for his technology to control the characteristics of electrode materials and devices for next-generation memory. This technology enables the modification of electrode and device characteristics by adjusting a single process variable, without introducing new materials or additional processes. It was evaluated as having reached a level of maturity suitable for application in actual product development, having quantified material properties and device characteristics for various process conditions.

Honorable Mentions were awarded to Professor Hwang Cheol-sung of Seoul National University for his high-temperature atomic layer deposition (ALD) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process for depositing materials in vertical SOM cells; Professor Choi Byung-jun of the Seoul National University of Science and Technology for his high-temperature ALD and CVD precursors and processes for next-generation memory; and Professor Han Jae-deok of Hanyang University for his patents related to UFS 5.0 and next-generation M-PHY high-speed interface circuits.

Cha Seon-yong, Director of the SK hynix Future Technology Research Institute, stated, “These outstanding patents, identified through industry-academia collaboration, will contribute to enhancing the technological competitiveness of the domestic semiconductor industry,” adding, “We will continue to provide support to ensure that challenging and innovative research can flourish.”