The graduate student Yeong-dae Seo in the School of Advanced Materials Engineering (academic advisor: Mi-jeong Yi) of Kookmin University was awarded the Excellent Poster Prize as the first author by the 14th International Meeting on Information Display (IMID2014). The title of the thesis that was awarded the Poster Prize is ‘Texture type resistive switching memory devices using carbon fiber and Al coated carbon fiber.’ This study examined the characteristics of resistive switching memory devices that can be applied to electronic fabric in use of flexible conductive fiber. Also, it is characterized by deriving resistive switching memory just by contacting carbon fiber and Al coated carbon fiber and applying power to them.

As a type of next-generation non-volatile memory, resistive switching memory (or ReRAM) saves information resistive switching of devices by introducing power or current. With its simple structure of metal - insulating thin film – metal, it is easy to form a circuit with conductive fiber while enabling low-powered operation. Once such electronic fabric is developed, it is possible to produce smart garment that combines electronic devices and clothes and such can be used in medical and healthcare related areas as well as the system demanded in high-risk jobs to secure safety.

In the existing ReRAM structure, procedure of electroforming was required for the process of forming the insulating thin film and vitalizing the characteristics of resistive switching. However in the devices used in this thesis, it is possible to derive stable switching characteristics without going through such inconvenient procedure. In recognition of such contribution, the thesis was awarded in the IMID 2014.

Along with the Society for Information Display (SID) of the U.S. and International Display Workshops of Japan, ‘the 14th International Meeting on Information Display’ is one of the three major academic conferences specialized in the display industry and with the participation of roughly 1,700 people from about 23 countries, it was held in the largest scale as 587 theses were presented (257 theses for oral presentation, 113 theses in Korea, and 144 theses of foreign countries / 316 theses of poster)

Yeong-dae Seo graduated from the School of Advanced Materials Engineering in Kookmin University and currently, he is studying in the master’s course in the laboratory of Professor Mi-jeong Yi.