An Intel archive photo from 2018 shows Intel’s quantum computing chip balanced on a pencil eraser. In 2022, researchers at Intel and quantum computing research center QuTech created the first silicon qubits at scale at an Intel manufacturing factory. (Credit: Intel Corporation)
A wafer manufactured by Intel contains working spin qubits. In 2022, researchers at Intel and quantum computing research center QuTech created the first silicon qubits at scale at an Intel manufacturing factory. (Credit: Intel Corporation)
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Researchers at Intel and QuTech, an advanced quantum computing research center consisting of the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) and the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), have successfully created the first silicon qubits at scale at Intel’s D1 manufacturing factory in Hillsboro, Oregon. The result is a process that can fabricate more than 10,000 arrays with several silicon-spin qubits on a single wafer with greater than 95% yield. This achievement is dramatically higher in both qubit count and yield than the typical university and laboratory processes used today.
This research was published in the journal Nature Electronics and is Intel’s first peer-reviewed research demonstrating the successful fabrication of qubits on 300mm silicon. The new process uses advanced transistor fabrication techniques including all-optical lithography to produce silicon-spin qubits, the same equipment used to produce Intel’s latest-generation complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) chips. The groundbreaking research is a crucial step forward in the path toward scaling quantum chips, demonstrating that it’s possible for qubits to eventually be produced alongside conventional chips in the same industrial manufacturing facilities.
“Quantum computing has the potential to deliver exponential performance for certain applications in the high-performance compute space,” said James Clarke, director of Quantum Hardware at Intel. “Our research proves that a full-scale quantum computer is not only achievable but also could be produced in a present-day chip factory. We look forward to continuing to work with QuTech to apply our expertise in silicon fabrication to unlock the full potential of quantum.”
For further exploration, you can read about Intel Labs’ research in quantum computing and other breakthroughs in hot qubits, cryogenic chips, and our collaboration with QuTech.
More Context: Intel Labs (Press Kit)