Intel researchers are taking new steps toward quantum computers by testing a new, small chip called a spin qubit. The new chip was created at Intel’s D1D Fab in Oregon using the same silicon manufacturing techniques the company has perfected to create billions of traditional computer chips. Smaller than a pencil eraser, it’s the smallest quantum computing chip Intel has ever made.
Working Spin Qubit: Intel begins testing the smallest “Spin Qubit” chip for quantum computing
The new spin qubit chip operates at the extremely low temperatures required for quantum computing: approximately 460 degrees Fahrenheit below zero. This means it can withstand temperatures 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 contain a single electron. The behaviour of that single electron, which can be in multiple spin states simultaneously, offers much greater computing power than today’s transistors and is the basis of quantum computing.
The zigzag photo lines are printed cables that connect the chip qubits to the outside world.
One feature of Intel’s tiny spin qubit chip is especially promising. Their qubits are extraordinarily small, about 50 nanometers wide and visible only under an electron microscope. About 1,500 qubits could fit into the diameter of a single human hair.
This means that the design for the new Intel spin qubit chip could be dramatically expanded. Future quantum computers will contain thousands or even millions of qubits and will be much more powerful than today’s fastest supercomputers.