Intel Releases New Silicon Spin Quantum Bit Chip Tunnel Falls, Pushing Quantum Computing towards Practicality

    In Intel‘s wafer factory, Tunnel Falls is produced on a 300 mm silicon wafer, which makes use of Intel‘s leading industrial manufacturing capabilities for transistors, such as Extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV), and gate and contact layer processing technologies. In silicon spin qubits, information (0/1) is encoded in the spin (up/down) of a single electron. Silicon spin qubit is essentially a Single-electron transistor, so Intel can use a process similar to the standard CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) logic production line to manufacture it.

    Intel believes that silicon spin qubits have more advantages than other qubit technologies because they can utilize advanced transistor like production techniques. The size of silicon spin quantum bits is similar to that of a transistor, about 50 x 50 nanometers, which is 1 million times smaller than other types of quantum bits and is expected to achieve faster mass production. A paper in the journal Nature Electronics states that "silicon may be the most promising platform for achieving large-scale quantum computing.

    Meanwhile, utilizing advanced CMOS production lines, Intel can improve yield and performance through its innovative process control technology. The yield of Tunnel Falls has reached 95%, achieving voltage uniformity close to that of CMOS logic processes. In addition, Intel can implement over 24000 quantum dots on each wafer. Tunnel Falls can form 4 to 12 quantum bits that can be isolated from each other or manipulated simultaneously.

    Next, Intel will continue to work to improve the performance of Tunnel Falls and integrate it with Intel Quantum Software development kit (SDK) into Intel‘s quantum computing stack. In addition, based on its experience in manufacturing Tunnel Falls, Intel has started developing the next generation of quantum chips, which are expected to be launched in 2024.