Quantum Motion to ship first silicon spin qubit prototype
Quantum Motion is to build a silicon spin qubit quantum processor test bed for the UK’s National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC).
Quantum Motion’s prototype spin qubit system will be based on the same 300mm CMOS wafer platform used throughout the electronics industry and is scalable to millions of qubits.
The NQCC is assembling many of different quantum computing approaches into one facility to provide access for academics, researchers and public sector communities to conduct test projects, feasibility studies and research.
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The system developed by Quantum Motion will be the first quantum computing test bed delivered into the NQCC that is based on conventional silicon manufacturing processes and will show the practicality and scalability of established semiconductor fabrication techniques. This proof-of-concept aims to accelerate the transition from prototype systems to commercialisation.
“The strategy at Quantum Motion is about more than delivering qubits; it is about delivering a scalable, integrated quantum architecture capable of building systems of sizes yielding real value,” said James Palles-Dimmock, CEO of Quantum Motion. “This includes developing the elements needed to operate a quantum computer, such as world-leading cryo-electronics and automated control, along with a prototype quantum processor manufactured using a standard CMOS process.”
“NQCC seeks to accelerate the development of the UK’s quantum computing capabilities and infrastructure. There is a growing realisation across the industry that quantum developers need access to the hardware to engineer scalable solutions for a full-stack quantum computer,” said Dr Michael Cuthbert, NQCC’s Director.
“Once built, these system-level prototypes will help the NQCC and its collaborators to understand the unique characteristics of different hardware approaches, establish appropriate metrics for each qubit architecture, and explore the types of applications that benefit most from each technological approach. That will feed directly into the NQCC’s ongoing engagement with organisations across academia, industry, and government to develop use cases for early-stage quantum computers, and to identify the innovations that will be needed to accelerate the development and adoption of this transformative technology.”
To develop scalable quantum computers, Quantum Motion has developed key expertise in four critical areas.
It has developed the ability to design and operate qubits with typical dimensions less than 100 nanometers, enabling dense quantum processors with millions of qubits produced using a conventional, scalable CMOS process. These are used in fault-tolerant quantum computer architectures and error mitigation, allowing QPU design tailored to different target applications.
Back in 2022, the company showed a 3 x 3mm chip called Bloomsbury built on a 300mm wafer by a commercial foundry with thousands of quantum dot devices, integrated alongside control electronics operating at temperatures less than one tenth of a degree above absolute zero.
Going from today’s small quantum processor demonstrations to large-scale quantum computers requires overcoming several challenges. One in particular is how to address each qubit in a large array without needing a vast number of input/output connections to the chip. Quantum chips need to be controlled just like conventional CPUs, which contain billions of transistors but are interfaced to a motherboard using only a few hundred input/output connections.
Achieving this means not only manufacturing quantum devices using the same processes used to make conventional electronics, but also designing the electronics circuits in a way that can function at the ultralow temperatures required for qubit operation.
“The team have created bespoke ‘quantum primitives’, our version of the transistor, the building block of conventional CMOS circuits, which we can use to trap individual electrons,” said Alberto Gomez Saiz, Integrated Circuit (IC) lead at Quantum Motion. “Integrating these on-chip with conventional electronics, which we designed to work at deep cryogenic temperatures, allowed us to read out thousands of quantum devices with only 9 wires coming into the fridge. It has removed a major bottleneck to scaling.”
“We developed high frequency readout techniques and software automation to measure the array of 1024 quantum dots, showing single electron behaviour, in 12 minutes,” said M. Fernando Gonzalez-Zalba, Principal Quantum Hardware Engineer at Quantum Motion. “This is 100 times faster than other industry efforts, which can take 24 hours or longer to read the equivalent number of dots.”
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