Intel Starts Testing Smallest ‘Spin Qubit’ Chip for Quantum Computing
June 11 2018 - 11:00AM
Business Wire
Intel researchers are taking new steps toward quantum computers
by testing a tiny new “spin qubit” chip. The new chip was created
in Intel’s D1D Fab in Oregon using the same silicon manufacturing
techniques that the company has perfected for creating billions of
traditional computer chips. Smaller than a pencil’s eraser, it is
the tiniest quantum computing chip Intel has made.
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A 2018 photo shows Intel’s new quantum
computing chip balanced on a pencil eraser. Researchers started
testing this “spin qubit chip” at the extremely low temperatures
necessary for quantum computing: about 460 degrees below zero
Fahrenheit. Intel projects that qubit-based quantum computers,
which operate based on the behaviors of single electrons, could
someday be more powerful than today’s supercomputers. (Credit:
Walden Kirsch/Intel Corporation)
More: Quantum Computing at
Intel | The Future of Quantum Computing is Counted in Qubits (Intel
Explainer) | All Intel Images
The new spin qubit chip runs at the extremely low temperatures
required for quantum computing: roughly 460 degrees below zero
Fahrenheit – 250 times colder than space. The spin qubit chip does
not contain transistors – the on/off switches that form the basis
of today’s computing devices – but qubits (short for “quantum
bits”) that can hold a single electron. The behavior of that single
electron, which can be in multiple spin states simultaneously,
offers vastly greater computing power than today’s transistors, and
is the basis of quantum computing.
The zigzag lines in the photo are printed wires connecting the
chip’s qubits to the outside world.
One feature of Intel’s tiny new spin qubit chip is especially
promising. Its qubits are extraordinarily small – about 50
nanometers across and visible only under an electron microscope.
About 1,500 qubits could fit across the diameter of a single human
hair.
This means the design for a new Intel spin qubit chip could be
dramatically scaled up. Future quantum computers will contain
thousands or even millions of qubits — and will be vastly more
powerful than today’s fastest supercomputers.
About Intel
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) expands the boundaries of technology to
make the most amazing experiences possible. Information about Intel
can be found at newsroom.intel.com and intel.com.
Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in
the United States and other countries.
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Intel CorporationStephanie Matthew,
408-218-3636stephanie.l.matthew@intel.com
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