The National Institute of Technology and Standards (Director Kim Dae-ja) under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held the “2025 Semiconductor Standardization Forum” on November 26 in Seoul. The event was attended by over 90 domestic semiconductor experts from companies like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
This forum included experts from three of the world’s major semiconductor standardization organizations: the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Semiconductor Equipment and Materials Association (SEMI), and the International Semiconductor Standardization Council (JEDEC). They discussed trends in the standardization of advanced semiconductor packaging (post-processing) and artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor fields.
During the IEC session, two newly proposed international standards, suggested by South Korea at last week’s IEC Semiconductor Device Technical Committee meeting in Japan, were introduced. The proposed standards include a method for evaluating the bonding strength of hybrid bonding without bumps (intermediate structures) between wafers and a method for evaluating the precision of power semiconductor wafer dicing (cutting). These standards are expected to serve as criteria for objectively assessing the reliability of wafer bonding and chip (die) separation processes, thereby helping domestic semiconductor packaging and process equipment companies reduce the burden of specification alignment and redundant testing with global clients.
SEMI addressed standardization tasks for advanced packaging factory automation. It particularly introduced standardization activities related to automation operations for the transportation and handling of semiconductor panels and large substrates.
JEDEC presented the necessity and standardization direction of low-power PIM (Processing-In-Memory) memory and shared standardization trends for implementing on-device AI with memory semiconductors.
Kim Dae-ja, the Director of the National Institute of Technology and Standards, stated, “International standards led by IEC have traditionally functioned as the common language of trade under the WTO system. However, the influence of de facto standards like those from SEMI and JEDEC is expanding recently. We will actively support domestic semiconductor companies to participate proactively in these global standardization organizations.”