Professor Choi Sung Jin of the Department of Electronic Engineering at Kookmin University (President Jeong Seung Ryul) has been named to the ‘2025 Top 2% Scientists’ list jointly announced by Stanford University and Elsevier for the third consecutive year. This globally authoritative list selects the top 2% of scientists in each field by comprehensively evaluating citation metrics and academic influence of researchers worldwide, based on Elsevier's Scopus database.

Professor Choi Sung Jin is currently conducting globally recognized research in next-generation semiconductor devices and Monolithic 3D Integration (M3D) technology. M3D technology enhances performance by vertically stacking multiple layers of semiconductor chips. Much like building an apartment one floor at a time to maximize space utilization, this next-generation semiconductor process stacks more circuits within a limited chip area, simultaneously achieving high performance and low power consumption. Professor Choi's research team is developing ‘Laser Recrystallization’ technology to implement this M3D structure. This involves using lasers to locally melt silicon and then recrystallize it.

This enables the formation of high-quality silicon layers even at low temperatures, making it possible to stack new transistor layers on top of existing processes. Currently, research is underway to utilize this method to realize Gate-All-Around (GAA) structures—high-efficiency transistors that control the current-flowing channel by surrounding it on all sides. This technology is considered a core foundation for realizing next-generation Complementary FET (C-FET) structures.

This selection as a ‘Top 2% Researcher in the World’ reflects the high impact of Professor Choi's ongoing research on next-generation semiconductor devices based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs), alongside these recent achievements. Carbon nanotubes are ultra-fine carbon structures, only one-hundred-thousandth the thickness of a human hair. They are highly conductive and thermally stable, making them a promising material for next-generation transistors. Professor Choi successfully developed process technology enabling the fabrication of transistors at the large-scale wafer level using CNTs. This technology has enabled the presentation of a next-generation semiconductor platform capable of actual circuit and system-level implementation. This demonstrates the potential to extend beyond the physical scaling limitations of existing silicon devices, paving the way for new non-silicon-based integrated circuit technologies. These research achievements have been published in numerous prestigious international academic journals, garnering high citation counts and sustaining significant attention within the semiconductor field.

Furthermore, Professor Choi was selected as a researcher in the top 2% globally not only in the ‘Single-year Data’ category, which evaluates annual performance, but also in the ‘Career-long Data’ category, which assesses the entirety of a researcher's career.

This recognition stems not from temporary achievements but from consistently high research output and sustained international influence over an extended period. Professor Choi Seong Jin stated, “Being selected among the top 2% globally for three consecutive years is recognition of the level and potential of Kookmin University's research team on the world stage.” He added, “Moving forward, through research on laser recrystallization-based M3D semiconductor devices and next-generation CNT-based semiconductor devices, we will realize a highly integrated, low-power semiconductor platform to support artificial intelligence and the hyper-connected society.”