Kwangho Park, Head of Device and Material Research Lab at LG Innotek, Awarded Industrial Medal on the 17th Electronics and IT Day

Development of Low-Loss Material for 5G Communication 'RF-SiP' Substrate... Signal Loss Rate Reduced by 70%

Kwangho Park, Head of Device and Material Research Lab at LG Innotek.

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] LG Innotek announced on the 5th that Park Kwang-ho, Executive Director of the Device Materials Research Institute, received the Industrial Medal at the 17th Electronics and IT Day in recognition of his contribution to enhancing the competitiveness of the semiconductor substrate materials industry.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Industry Association (KEA) established the 'Electronics and IT Day' event in 2006 and annually award honors in five categories?Industrial Medal, Industrial Decoration, Presidential Citation, Prime Minister's Citation, and Ministerial Citation?to individuals who have contributed to improving the competitiveness of the electronics and IT industry.

Since joining LG Innotek in 1996, Executive Director Park has developed differentiated technologies and products through semiconductor substrate research and development (R&D). His efforts are credited with helping LG Innotek secure a dominant market share in the global substrate materials market.

The achievements of the Device Materials Research Institute, led by Executive Director Park, have been especially prominent in the field of RF-SiP (Radio Frequency System-in-Package) substrate materials, a core component of 5G smartphone antennas. To support 5G ultra-high frequency signals, additional antennas had to be mounted on smartphone RF-SiPs compared to previous models. As the number of antennas increased, minimizing signal interference and signal loss between antennas became an urgent challenge for the 5G communication industry.

Since 2017, LG Innotek's Device Materials Research Institute has proactively responded to these rapid changes in the communication market by developing the first low-loss material for RF-SiP substrates that reliably supports 5G signals. RF-SiPs using this material reduced signal loss by up to 70% compared to previous products and became 20% thinner, enabling more efficient internal smartphone design. As a result, LG Innotek has held the global number one market share in the RF-SiP substrate market since 2018.

Additionally, Executive Director Park developed a 'high-efficiency magnetic material' applied to TV power modules that supplies power stably. Notably, by utilizing AI, he identified the optimal composition ratio of the magnetic material in just one year and three months. When this material is applied to TV power modules, the number of components required for power supply can be reduced to one-third, making the TV approximately 60% thinner.

Executive Director Park said, “I am proud to have devoted 25 years to substrate materials R&D, contributing to corporate growth and enhancing national industrial competitiveness. Based on the accumulated research achievements, we will continue to expand and develop various technologies and products that can innovate customer experiences in next-generation semiconductor substrate fields such as FC-BGA.”