Intel has the ready-made technology that will allow it to manufacture quantum processors with millions of qubits

make qubit It is not easy at all. There are different types, but currently some of the most advanced are superconductors, ion traps, and neutral atoms. Intel, one of the major companies involved in the development of quantum computing, has chosen to produce silicon qubits With a very clear purpose: utilizing its expertise in manufacturing Highly integrated semiconductor for the production of quantum chips.

Each of the qubits manufactured by this company is encoded on a spin of an electron located on a silicon substrate. Rotation is a quantum quantityand we can imagine it as a characteristic rotation of elementary particles on themselves of a constant value which, together with electric charge, is one of the intrinsic properties of these particles. Intel manipulates spin of electrons from their qubits using magnetic fields.

One of the biggest challenges researchers at this company have worked on for years is finding a way to use the photolithography equipment they use to make the most advanced semiconductors for quantum processors. However, the real challenge is actually to optimize the use of the entire surface 300mm silicon wafer. And Intel has just taken a very important step forward that allows you to touch this achievement with your fingertips.

Silicon quantum processors with millions of qubits closer

The resources that Intel dedicates to developing silicon qubits are paying off. In fact, he confirmed a few hours ago that his researchers at his research and development center in Hillsboro, Oregon, had been able to use a team of Ultraviolet photolithography (VEU) to produce .-format functional qubits 95% of silicon wafer.

There is no doubt that this is great news. This is because this performance is much higher than what Intel has achieved so far. However, the most interesting thing is that this achievement invites this company to court an idea The scalability of the catapult of its quantum chips, which currently contain a few dozen qubits, to fuse thousands and even millions of qubits within them.

This image shows a quantum dot matrix characterization done by Intel researchers to verify that they achieved a 95% return on the entire silicon wafer. no doubt; He is a very important teacher.

The significant increase in the number of quantum bits embedded in a quantum computer processor is not only significant because it has a profound effect on its processing power; It is also necessary to implement your ability to Correct mistakeswhich is one Big Challenges That discipline is still waiting for us.

In fact, some experts, including Ignatius Syracwho is one of the founding fathers of quantum computing, believes that in order to make Correct mistakes To solve symbolic problems, several million qubits are necessary. maybe even Hundreds of millions of qubits. We still have a long way to go, but Intel’s achievement invites us to look to that horizon with optimism. It may not be as far off as these numbers seem to reflect it.

more information: Intel Corporation