QUANTUM MOTION

Company shows 1024-qubit quantum chip suitable for production processes such as semiconductors

The British startup Quantum Motion showed a quantum chip with 1024 qubits, for whose production modern processes and technical lines for the production of semiconductors are perfectly suited. The chip is made on a conventional 300mm wafer on the lines of an unnamed company. The proposed solution promises unprecedented qubit scale and ease of control, although the developers honestly report that it could be up to 20 years before the advent of universal quantum computers.

The company Quantum Motion is engaged in the direction of so-called spin qubits. Here, the production of silicon chips fits in in the best possible way. Traps are created in the substrate for individual electrons, whose spins determine the quantum states of these particles. They also play the role of qubits that can be controlled and read. For example, Intel has also learned to reproduce spin qubits on 300mm silicon substrates, although for many years it has not advanced beyond 2-qubit solutions. In that context, the 1024-qubit Quantum Motion chip feels like a real breakthrough. Another thing is if it is such in fact?

"When you say 'general-purpose quantum computer' or 'large-scale quantum computer,' it depends on what you mean," said Jonathan Cohen, CTO of Quantum Machines. - If you want to achieve what is called a fault-tolerant large-scale quantum computer, I would say it will take 10 to 15 or maybe 20 years. And that's where we can really use the full potential of a quantum computer, like, for example, Shor's algorithm that breaks the RSA code."

What is the breakthrough in the development of quantum motion? As in the case of other similar solutions, a semiconductor quantum chip is placed in a cryogenic chamber. Traditionally, each qubit in such a chamber is controlled by multiple signal channels. Very complex circuits for reading and configuring quantum states, easy to change with any noise. UK and US developers have created a simple qubit spin control system that requires only 9 conductors for a 1024 qubit chip. This paves the way for scaling, but how it will be in practice, we can only guess.

The company also showed that modern semiconductor production is, in principle, suitable for the production of quantum processors. On a 0.1 mm2 Bloomsbury chip, she managed to place 1024 quantum "dots", whose quantum states she could manipulate.

Quantum Motion itself will not develop quantum processors, which indicates a number of problems that still need to be resolved and resolved. The company will focus on the hardware and software infrastructure needed to operate quantum systems.

Quantum Motion