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arXiv:1509.01119 · Applied Physics Letters

Demonstration of superconducting micromachined cavities

T. Brecht, Matthew J. Reagor, Yiwen Chu, Wolfgang Pfaff, Chen Wang, Luigi Frunzio, Michel Devoret, Robert J. Schoelkopf

Published Nov 9, 2015• 90 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Superconducting enclosures will be key components of scalable quantum computing devices based on circuit quantum electrodynamics. Within a densely integrated device, they can protect qubits from noise and serve as quantum memory units. Whether constructed by machining bulk pieces of metal or microfabricating wafers, 3D enclosures are typically assembled from two or more parts. The resulting seams potentially dissipate crossing currents and limit performance. In this letter, we present measured quality factors of superconducting cavity resonators of several materials, dimensions, and seam locations. We observe that superconducting indium can be a low-loss RF conductor and form low-loss seams. Leveraging this, we create a superconducting micromachined resonator with indium that has a quality factor of two million, despite a greatly reduced mode volume. Inter-layer coupling to this type of resonator is achieved by an aperture located under a planar transmission line. The described techniques demonstrate a proof-of-principle for multilayer microwave integrated quantum circuits for scalable quantum computing.

DOI
10.1063/1.4935541

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Superconducting enclosures will be key components of scalable quantum computing devices based on circuit quantum electrodynamics. Within a densely integrated device, they can protect qubits from noise and serve as quantum memory units. Whether constructed by machining bulk pieces of metal or microfabricating wafers, 3D enclosures are typically assembled from two or more parts. The resulting seams potentially dissipate crossing currents and limit performance. In this letter, we present measured quality factors of superconducting cavity resonators of several materials, dimensions, and seam locations. We observe that superconducting indium can be a low-loss RF conductor and form low-loss seams. Leveraging this, we create a superconducting micromachined resonator with indium that has a quality factor of two million, despite a greatly reduced mode volume. Inter-layer coupling to this type of resonator is achieved by an aperture located under a planar transmission line. The described techniques demonstrate a proof-of-principle for multilayer microwave integrated quantum circuits for scalable quantum computing.
Low-loss cavities are important in building high-coherence superconducting quantum computers. Generating high-quality joints between parts is crucial for the realization of a scalable quantum computer using the circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) framework. In this paper, we adapt the technique of indium bump bonding to cQED to realize high-quality superconducting microwave joints between chips. We use this technique to fabricate compact superconducting cavities in the multilayer microwave integrated quantum circuit (MMIQC) architecture and achieve single photon quality factors over 300 × 106 or single-photon lifetimes approaching 5 ms. To quantify the performance of the resulting seam, we fabricate microwave stripline resonators in multiple sections connected by different numbers of bonds, resulting in a wide range of seam admittances. The measured quality factors combined with the designed seam admittances allow us to bound the conductance of the seam at gseam≥2×1010/(Ω m). Such a conductance should enable the construction of micromachined superconducting cavities with a quality factor of at least a billion. These results demonstrate the capability to construct very high-quality microwave structures within the MMIQC architecture.
We present a device demonstrating a lithographically patterned transmon integrated with a micromachined cavity resonator. Our two-cavity, one-qubit device is a multilayer microwave integrated quantum circuit (MMIQC), comprising a basic unit capable of performing circuit-QED (cQED) operations. We describe the qubit-cavity coupling mechanism of a specialized geometry using an electric field picture and a circuit model, and finally obtain specific system parameters using simulations. Fabrication of the MMIQC includes lithography, etching, and metallic bonding of silicon wafers. Superconducting wafer bonding is a critical capability that is demonstrated by a micromachined storage cavity lifetime 34.3 μs34.3~\mathrm{μs}34.3 μs, corresponding to a quality factor of 2 million at single-photon energies. The transmon coherence times are T1=6.4 μsT_1=6.4~\mathrm{μs}T1​=6.4 μs, and T2Echo=11.7 μsT_2^{Echo}= 11.7~\mathrm{μs}T2Echo​=11.7 μs. We measure qubit-cavity dispersive coupling with rate χqμ/2π=−1.17 χ_{qμ}/2π=-1.17~χqμ​/2π=−1.17 MHz, constituting a Jaynes-Cummings system with an interaction strength g/2π=49 g/2π=49~g/2π=49 MHz. With these parameters we are able to demonstrate cQED operations in the strong dispersive regime with ease. Finally, we highlight several improvements and anticipated extensions of the technology to complex MMIQCs.
The superconducting quantum computer is an implementation of the quantum computer and a current leader the field in terms of performance and potential for scalability to large systems. Its two main components are the superconducting microwave resonator and the quantum bit (qubit). In Chapter 1, the concept of quantum computing is introduced, and the superconducting microwave resonator is explained in depth, along with a glimpse at the qubit and a description of two level system loss, the most prominent form of loss in low-power superconducting quantum circuits. Scalability is essential to the development of fault-tolerant quantum computing, as error correction requires a large array of quantum bits. The multilayer quantum circuit architecture is rising to the forefront as a solution to many of the scalability issues facing the field today. Chapter 2 summarizes some of these scalability issues, such as the suppression of unwanted modes and materials losses, and presents an overview of multilayer architectures applied to superconducting quantum circuits. The chapter further delves into indium bump bonding, an essential technique in multilayer circuit fabrication.In Chapter 3, we experimentally demonstrate a thermocompression bonding technology between on-chip indium thin films and apply it to capped superconducting devices. These devices can be used as a building block towards a more scalable architecture: the multilayer quantum circuit. We characterize the dc and microwave performance of these bonded devices at room temperature as well as cryogenic temperatures. At 10 mK, we find a small but significant dc bond resistance of 49.2μΩ cm2. A tunnel-capped, bonded device shows minimal microwave reflections and clean transmission up to 6.8 GHz compared to a similar uncapped device, demonstrating good performance. As a proof of concept, we fabricate and measure a set of tunnel-capped superconducting resonators, demonstrating marginal deterioration in resonator performance due to the bonding procedure. This work demonstrates that thermocompression bonding between thin on-chip indium films is a useful addition to the multilayer quantum circuit toolbox, and that this technique, when applied to form the tunnel-capped superconducting device, shows a promising step towards more scalable architectures. Indium is becoming ubiquitous in superconducting microwave circuits as it continues to be widely adopted as a bonding medium. However, the loss mechanisms in superconducting indium films have not been examined until now. In Chapter 4, we characterize microwave loss in indium and aluminium/indium thin films on silicon substrates by measuring superconducting coplanar waveguide resonators and estimating the main loss parameters at powers down to the sub-photon regime and at temperatures between 10 and 450 mK. We compare films deposited by thermal evaporation, sputtering, and molecular beam epitaxy. We study the effects of heating in vacuum and ambient atmospheric pressure as well as the effects of pre-deposition wafer cleaning using hydrofluoric acid. The microwave measurements are supported by thin film metrology including secondary-ion mass spectrometry. For thermally evaporated and sputtered films, we find that two-level states (TLSs) are the dominating loss mechanism at low photon number and temperature. Thermally evaporated indium is determined to have a TLS loss tangent due to indium oxide of∼5×10−5. The molecular beam epitaxial films show evidence of formation of a substantial indium-silicon eutectic layer, which leads to a drastic degradation in resonator performance.
Three-dimensional microwave cavities have recently been combined with superconducting qubits in the circuit quantum electrodynamics architecture. These cavities should have less sensitivity to dielectric and conductor losses at surfaces and interfaces, which currently limit the performance of planar resonators. We expect that significantly (>103) higher quality factors and longer lifetimes should be achievable for 3D structures. Motivated by this principle, we have reached internal quality factors greater than 0.5 × 109 and intrinsic lifetimes of 0.01 s for multiple aluminum superconducting cavity resonators at single photon energies and millikelvin temperatures. These improvements could enable long lived quantum memories with submicrosecond access times when strongly coupled to superconducting qubits.
Three-dimensional microwave cavities have recently been combined with superconducting qubits in the circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) architecture. These cavities should have less sensitivity to dielectric and conductor losses at surfaces and interfaces, which currently limit the performance of planar resonators. We expect that significantly (>10^3) higher quality factors and longer lifetimes should be achievable for 3D structures. Motivated by this principle, we have reached internal quality factors greater than 0.5x10^9 and intrinsic lifetimes of 0.01 seconds for multiple aluminum superconducting cavity resonators at single photon energies and millikelvin temperatures. These improvements could enable long lived quantum memories with submicrosecond access times when strongly coupled to superconducting qubits.
We present fabrication and characterization procedures of devices for circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED). We have made 3-GHz cavities with quality factors in the range 10/sup 4/-10/sup 6/, which allow access to the strong coupling regime of cQED. The cavities are transmission line resonators made by photolithography. They are coupled to the input and output ports via gap capacitors. An Al-based Cooper pair box is made by e-beam lithography and Dolan bridge double-angle evaporation in superconducting resonators with high quality factor. An important issue is to characterize the quality factor of the resonators. We present an RF-characterization of superconducting resonators as a function of temperature and magnetic field. We have realized different versions of the system with different box-cavity couplings by using different dielectrics and by changing the box geometry. Moreover, the cQED approach can be used as a diagnostic tool of qubit internal losses.