Joining Forces Towards a Scalable Semiconductor Quantum Computer
Forschungszentrum Jülich, RWTH Aachen University, and the Leibniz Institute for Innovative Microelectronics (IHP) are pooling their complementary expertise in the fields of semiconductor and quantum technology.
Quantum computers offer enormous potential, for example to speed up the search for materials and medical agents or to solve logistics problems. However, a question that has not yet been resolved is how large quantities of quantum bits, or qubits for short, can be realized. Qubits are the elementary building blocks of a quantum computer. Many applications, however, require a large amount of qubits. Semiconductor qubits offer several advantages in this respect, as processes from established semiconductor production can be used to implement them.
Quantum chips with semiconductor qubits have gone through a rapid development. The approach has now reached a level comparable to those of other platforms, but proved to be significantly less sensitive to external disturbances such as thermal radiation or even cosmic particles. For the next challenge, namely the fabrication of larger, scalable quantum circuits, Forschungszentrum Jülich, RWTH, and the Leibniz Institute for Innovative Microelectronics (IHP) already have been collaborating in several projects, such as QUASAR, QLSI, and SiGeQuant. The overarching aim is to progress semiconductor-based quantum bits towards application. An important industrial partner is Infineon Technologies AG, the largest semiconductor manufacturer in Germany.
In order to consolidate this collaboration, the involved institutions have now entered into a partnership agreement. Among other initiatives, a jointly operated lab is to be established. IHP will contribute its expertise in the growth of heterostructures and in qubit fabrication based on Ge/SiGe and Si/SiGe compounds. Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH will bring in the proven expertise of their JARA Institute for Quantum Information, in particular in the areas of device conceptualization, characterization, and qubit demonstration.