NSF seeks reliable quantum-chip-making process

July 6, 2001 | Source: EE Times

The National Science Foundation is seeking a quantum-chip-making process that will work with any one of the quantum-computing architectures being proposed today.

Today, researchers experimenting with quantum computer chips must craft their own process technology. The problem: quantum dots store information in domains that are only a few square nanometers, containing 50 to 10,000 atoms per stored quantum bit (qubit).

Individual devices can be hand-assembled using a scanning tunneling microscope, but even the highest-density current manufacturing process, electron-beam lithography, is at least 10 times too gross for crafting quantum dots.