2022年10月31日

該公司最新的芯片名為Bloomsbury，是一個3x3mm2的器件，由“一級代工廠”製造，采用了與標準半導體製造相同的大規模生產工藝。布盧姆斯伯裏(Bloomsbury)——以該公司第一次開店的倫敦地區命名——包含數千個量子點，其中可以裝載單個電子作為量子比特。據量子運動稱，從今天的小型量子處理器演示到大規模量子計算機需要克服幾個挑戰。其中之一就是將足夠多的量子比特聚集在一起，而能夠使用現有的芯片製造技術大規模生產量子設備是解決這個問題的一個答案。該公司表示，另一個問題是如何在不需要大量連接到量子設備的情況下，在一個大型陣列中尋址每個量子比特。要實現這一目標，不僅意味著要用與製造傳統電子產品相同的工藝製造量子設備，還意味著要設計電子控製電路，使其能夠在量子比特操作所需的寒冷溫度下工作。“將這些(量子點)芯片與傳統的電子產品集成在一起，我們設計的電子產品可以在深度低溫下工作，使我們能夠讀取數千個量子設備，隻需9根電線就可以進入冰箱。它消除了擴展的主要瓶頸，”量子運動集成電路負責人Alberto Gomez Saiz說。量子機器公司聯合創始人兼聯合首席技術官Yonatan Cohen也認為，這是使用矽來構建量子係統的另一個優勢。“除了可以擴大矽芯片上量子比特的數量之外，你還可以考慮集成一些我們所謂的控製電子設備，即與量子比特通信的電路。 Basically, you can integrate some of these elements into the same chip," Cohen told us. Quantum Machines is not aiming to build quantum processors itself, but focuses on the hardware and software infrastructure required to operate quantum systems. Cohen said this demonstration from Quantum Motion is an important step on the journey towards full-scale quantum computers. "I think it's important work. As you know, there is tons of work to do to reach a full-scale quantum computer. But I think it's a very important milestone and showing that we're heading in a good direction towards there." Quantum Motion said its chips were fabricated at an unidentified commercial foundry, using 300mm wafer production processes that are used for high yield and high volume chip manufacture. In this respect, the company is following a similar path to Intel, which announced earlier this month the latest results from its own experiments in manufacturing spin qubit devices using 300mm wafers. Co-CTO John Morton hailed it as the result of a major interdisciplinary effort by Quantum Motion's semiconductor engineers and quantum physicists, and said that it shows the potential of realizing quantum processors by using advanced silicon foundry processes to mass produce quantum chips. But the industry is still some way off from seeing general-purpose quantum systems capable of meeting the promises that have been made for the technology, as Cohen told us. "When you say general purpose, or large scale quantum computer, it really depends what you mean," he said. "If you want to reach what's called a fault tolerant, large-scale quantum computer, I would say it will take 10 to 15 or maybe 20 years. And that's the point where we can really harvest the full potential of a quantum computer, like, for instance, the Shor algorithm, which breaks the RSA code." Before that, there are heuristic algorithms that could potentially give significant advantage for quantum computers within the next five to seven years, Cohen claimed, but we won't know until it they are tried. He likened the situation to machine learning, which was unproven technology until people built neural networks and found they were useful for particular applications. "So people are building those machines to try them out and see if these algorithms work," Cohen said, adding that even if you want a general-purpose quantum computer in future, there is a lot of work that needs to be done, and you need to start doing it today. ® Share