{"id":1221,"date":"2025-07-22T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8080\/sk-hynixs-yunik-son-wins-2025-engineer-of-korea-award\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T09:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T09:00:12","slug":"sk-hynixs-yunik-son-wins-2025-engineer-of-korea-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.skhynix.com\/en\/sk-hynixs-yunik-son-wins-2025-engineer-of-korea-award\/","title":{"rendered":"SK hynix\u2019s Yunik Son Wins 2025 Engineer of Korea Award: \u201cRelentless Tech Innovation Made Possible by One-Team Spirit\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Yunik Son, head of the DRAM Peri (DPERI) team in the R&D department, won the Engineer of Korea Award at the First Half of 2025 Engineer of Korea Awards Ceremony on June 17 in Seoul.<\/p>\n

The Engineer of Korea Award, jointly presented by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Industrial Technology Association, is granted to engineers who have achieved exceptional R&D outcomes in their industry. It shines a spotlight on those who have played a key role in enhancing South Korea\u2019s technological competitiveness.<\/p>\n

Son, who was honored in the IT Engineer category, has played a pivotal role in driving the development of next-generation AI semiconductor technologies at SK hynix. She was recognized for her contributions to leading the development of HBM*<\/span>, a key memory product for the AI era, and LPDDR*<\/span>, a low-power DRAM for mobile devices. Such efforts underline how she consistently challenges the limits of technological innovation.<\/p>\n

*<\/span> High Bandwidth Memory (HBM): A high-value, high-performance product that significantly enhances data processing speeds compared to conventional DRAMs by vertically stacking multiple DRAM chips. There are six generations of HBM, starting with the original HBM, and followed by HBM2, HBM2E, HBM3, HBM3E, and HBM4.
\n*<\/span> Low Power Double Data Rate (LPDDR): A DRAM standard for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, featuring low-voltage operation to minimize power consumption. The standard includes the prefix \u201cLP,\u201d which stands for \u201clow power.\u201d The LPDDR standard has been developed in the order of LPDDR1, 2, 3, 4, 4X, 5, and 5X.<\/p>\n

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\u25b2 Son receives her award from First Vice Minister Chang Yune Lee of the Ministry of Science and ICT<\/p><\/div><\/a>

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\u25b2 Son with her family after receiving the Engineer of Korea Award<\/p><\/div><\/a>

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\u25b2 A commemorative group photo of recipients of the Engineer of Korea Award<\/p><\/div><\/a>

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Now in her 19th year at SK hynix, Son has dedicated her career as a device engineer to the development of peri.*<\/span> transistors for various DRAM products. Even with the demanding requirements of high performance, low-power consumption, and high reliability, she has demonstrated strong technological leadership in delivering improvements that customers can tangibly experience.<\/p>\n

*<\/span> Peripheral (peri.): The peripheral circuit region that selects and controls the memory cells where data is stored.<\/p>\n

For instance, during the development of LPDDR5, Son drew industry attention by successfully adapting the HKMG*<\/span> process to DRAM. HKMG is a process that simultaneously improves performance and power efficiency compared to previous processes, significantly enhancing the competitiveness of SK hynix\u2019s memory products.<\/p>\n

*<\/span> High-K Metal Gate (HKMG): A next-generation process that uses a material with a high dielectric constant (K) in the insulating layer inside DRAM transistors. This prevents the leakage of current caused by process miniaturization and improves capacitance, the amount of charge required for data storage, enabling faster processing while reducing power consumption.<\/p>\n

The SK hynix Newsroom sat down with Son to hear her thoughts on receiving the award and to learn more about her journey in technology.<\/p>\n

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Son Shares the Joy of Her Award With Colleagues United by One-Team Spirit<\/h3>\n
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\u25b2 Son (center) poses for a commemorative photo with her team members<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to share the joy of this award with my colleagues,\u201d she said. \u201cRather than seeing it as my personal achievement, I consider it to be a result of the time we spent thinking and taking on challenges together. I especially recall the moments when we came together to brainstorm solutions whenever we hit a roadblock. Going forward, we will continue to unite through our one-team spirit to pursue technological innovation that drives national industrial development.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Son expressed her gratitude to the colleagues who achieved this success with her, claiming that their one-team spirit was the core value that established SK hynix\u2019s technological competitiveness.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeveloping LPDDR and HBM was not just about improving performance,\u201d she stated. \u201cIt was a difficult challenge that required simultaneously achieving low-power consumption, high reliability, and mass-production capability. Each team pursued SUPEX*<\/span> and did their best in their respective areas of expertise. Thanks to mutual understanding and collaboration, we have been able to maintain our AI memory leadership.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

*<\/span> Super Excellent Level (SUPEX): The highest level of achievement that can be attained, as defined by SKMS, SK Group\u2019s management philosophy.<\/p>\n

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A Whole New Approach: \u201cDriving Technological Innovation Requires a Paradigm Shift\u201d<\/h3>\n
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\u25b2 Son shares her success with her colleagues and attributes their collaborative achievements to their one-team spirit<\/p>\n

The most defining milestone in Son\u2019s journey so far has been the successful adaptation of the HKMG process to DRAM. Originally used in logic semiconductors such as CPUs and application processors (APs), the HKMG process had rarely been attempted in DRAM manufacturing due to numerous constraints. However, Son boldly took on the challenge in pursuit of innovation and ultimately succeeded in significantly improving both product performance and power efficiency.<\/p>\n

\u201cIntroducing HKMG to DRAM was not merely an expansion of the technology\u2019s application, but a paradigm shift,\u201d she claimed. \u201cWe had to minimize the impact on cell transistors while also overcoming the drawbacks of HKMG, such as GIDL*<\/span> and reliability issues. By embracing new challenges without fear, we were ultimately able to secure top-tier competitiveness.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

*<\/span> Gate-Induced Drain Leakage (GIDL): A phenomenon in which voltage applied to the gate electrode induces unintended leakage current between the drain and source regions. It refers to a phenomenon in which current flows between the drain and source due to the gate voltage even when the transistor is in the off state.<\/p>\n

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\u25b2 Son shown holding her Engineer of Korea Award<\/p><\/div><\/a>

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\u25b2 Son\u2019s Engineer of Korea Award, which certifies her as a leader in technological innovation in the IT Engineer category<\/p><\/div><\/a>

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\u25b2 Son gives an acceptance speech at the awards ceremony<\/p><\/div><\/a>

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Another notable achievement by Son is the continuous research and development of device technologies in the peri. region. These technologies have also played a major role in enhancing the performance of HBM, contributing to innovation across SK hynix\u2019s entire semiconductor lineup.<\/p>\n

\u201cHigh-performance DRAM used in AI applications today requires ultra-high speed and ultra-low power consumption,\u201d she emphasized. \u201cTo meet these demands, the performance of the peri. region \u2014 which functions as the entry and exit point for data \u2014 plays a critical role. If the peri. region is not adequately supported in AI memory, which must process massive volumes of data, bottlenecks are bound to occur. This ultimately makes it impossible to improve overall product performance.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

To address these technical challenges, Son has persistently explored the peri region. Together with her team, she has engaged in constant discussion and research, sometimes developing new technologies and at other times revisiting and reinterpreting previously studied ones. The experience and achievements accumulated through this process have formed the foundation of the \u201cperi expertise\u201d that SK hynix proudly showcases today.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFor Engineers, Belief in Technology and Perseverance After Failure Are Essential\u201d<\/h3>\n
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\u25b2 Son has persistently explored the peri region of DRAM design, resulting in the unparalleled peri expertise of SK hynix<\/p>\n

Now recognized as a leading national engineer, Son also conveyed a strong sense of pride in her profession.<\/p>\n

\u201cEngineers solve real-world problems through technology,\u201d she said. \u201cDiscovering and realizing new possibilities despite any constraints is the essence of an engineer. To the engineers of the future, I would emphasize the importance of belief in technology and perseverance after failure. Have confidence that the technology you create can change the world and boldly put that conviction into action.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lastly, Son shared a message for her fellow SK hynix members as they go through this time of rapid change together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are at a pivotal moment of transition into the AI era,\u201d she claimed. \u201cIn the end, technology is built by people, and the passion, focus, and collaboration of every individual are our greatest competitive advantages. Just as the depth of our technology matters, so does the depth of trust and collaboration among colleagues. I hope we will continue to grow as one team by learning from one another, embracing failure, and moving forward together.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yunik Son, head of the DRAM Peri (DPERI) team in the R&D department, won the Engineer of Korea Award at the First Half of 2025 Engineer of Korea Awards Ceremony on June 17 in Seoul. The Engineer of Korea Award,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":1217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_migrated_source_id":19383,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[14,51,343,13,250,259,344,246,66,345],"class_list":["post-1221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-story","tag-ai-memory","tag-dram","tag-engineer-of-korea-award","tag-hbm","tag-hkmg","tag-lpddr","tag-lpddr5","tag-one-team","tag-one-team-spirit","tag-supex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.skhynix.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.skhynix.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.skhynix.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.skhynix.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.skhynix.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1221"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.skhynix.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5912,"href":"https:\/\/news.skhynix.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221\/revisions\/5912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.skhynix.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.skhynix.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.skhynix.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.skhynix.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}