Intel Hits Key Milestone in Quantum Chip Production Research
A photo shows Intel’s fully processed 30-millimeter silicon spin qubit wafer. (Credit: Intel Corporation)
Intel quantum engineers Florian Luthi (from left), Aditi Nethwewala, Stephanie Bojarski and Otto Zietz stand in front of a van-sized tool called a cryoprober, which sits in a lab at Gordon Moore Park at Ronler Acres in Oregon. In the cryoprober’s chamber, 300-millimeter silicon wafers are tested at 1.7 kelvins, just above absolute zero. Bojarski holds one of those 300-millimeter spin qubit wafers. (Credit: Intel Corporation)
Intel’s director of Quantum Hardware, James S. Clarke, holds a fully processed 300 millimeter silicon spin qubit wafer. (Credit: Intel Corporation)
An image from Intel’s cryoprober during automation shows the quantum qubit devices at 1.6 kelvins, where quantum dots can be formed in all 16 locations (four sensors and 12 qubit locations) and tuned to the last (single) electron without requiring engineer input. These results, enabled by intel fabricated device uniformity and repeatability, were collected across the entire wafer. The system is continually operated to generate the largest set of quantum dot device data reported to date. (Credit: Intel Corporation)
The images illustrate the characterization of quantum dots test results with the quantum dot threshold voltage demonstrating 100% gate and quantum dot yield across a 300-millimeter wafer (Figure 1), scans of single quantum dots showing single electron transitions (Figure 2) and double quantum dot scans tuned to a single electron in each of the two dots (Figure 3). (Credit: Intel Corporation)
Intel demonstrates exceptional yield of quantum dots arrays, showing promise for large-scale qubit production using transistor fabrication technology.
SANTA CLARA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– The Intel Labs and Components Research organizations have demonstrated the industry’s highest reported yield and uniformity to date of silicon spin qubit devices developed at Intel’s transistor research and development facility, Gordon Moore Park at Ronler Acres in Hillsboro, Oregon. This achievement represents a major milestone for scaling and working towards fabricating quantum chips on Intel’s transistor manufacturing processes.
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A photo shows Intel’s fully processed 30-millimeter silicon spin qubit wafer. (Credit: Intel Corporation)
The research was conducted using Intel’s second-generation silicon spin test chip. Through testing the devices using the Intel cryoprober, a quantum dot testing device that operates at cryogenic temperatures (1.7 Kelvin or -271.45 degrees Celsius), the team isolated 12 quantum dots and four sensors. This result represents the industry’s largest silicon electron spin device with a single electron in each location across an entire 300 millimeter silicon wafer.
Today’s silicon spin qubits are typically presented on one device, whereas Intel’s research demonstrates success across an entire wafer. Fabricated using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, the chips show remarkable uniformity, with a 95% yield rate across the wafer. The use of the cryoprober together with robust software automation enabled more than 900 single quantum dots and more than 400 double dots at the last electron,
