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Journal of Physics Conference Series

Sub-Kelvin single flux quantum control circuits and multi-chip packaging for supporting superconducting qubit

Shinichi Yorozu, Toshiyuki Miyazaki, Vasili K. Semenov, Yasunobu Nakamura, Y. Hashimoto, K. Hinode, Tomoyuki Sato, Y Kameda, Jaw-Shen Tsai

Published Jun 1, 2006• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Superconducting single flux quantum (SFQ) circuit can operate at very low temperature. This is suitable for controlling a quantum computing system with Josephson junctions. However, it is difficult to integrate both SFQ circuits and qubits into a single-chip, because of the dissipative characteristics of SFQ circuits. Therefore, we have developed a multi-chip packaging technology for a qubit control module. The module consists of SFQ circuit chips, qubit chips, and a substrate all of which are fabricated with Nb and Al technology. The chips are flip-chip bonded with superconducting solder bumps. We also investigated SFQ control circuits for superconducting qubits and circuit parameter optimization for sub-Kelvin temperature operation. Using both multi-chip packaging and optimized SFQ control circuit makes the design of qubit control module more flexible.

DOI
10.1088/1742-6596/43/1/347

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Superconducting single flux quantum (SFQ) circuit can operate at very low temperature. This is suitable for controlling a quantum computing system with Josephson junctions. However, it is difficult to integrate both SFQ circuits and qubits into a single-chip, because of the dissipative characteristics of SFQ circuits. Therefore, we have developed a multi-chip packaging technology for a qubit control module. The module consists of SFQ circuit chips, qubit chips, and a substrate all of which are fabricated with Nb and Al technology. The chips are flip-chip bonded with superconducting solder bumps. We also investigated SFQ control circuits for superconducting qubits and circuit parameter optimization for sub-Kelvin temperature operation. Using both multi-chip packaging and optimized SFQ control circuit makes the design of qubit control module more flexible.
Superconducting single flux quantum (SFQ) technology is well known for digital logic operations below 4.2 K, which are compatible with the Josephson junction qubit. Operation speed and signal sensitivity of circuits in SFQ are also sufficient to control qubits. Therefore, the SFQ circuit is a candidate technology for multiple qubit control. However, the self-heating effect of the SFQ circuit is a potential barrier to development of an SFQ-supported multiple qubit system because the qubit operating temperature is lower than the conventional 4.2 K. The multi-chip approach is a possible solution because the qubit chip can be thermally isolated from the SFQ circuitry. We report on recent progress in SFQ circuit and packaging technology for operation at sub-Kelvin temperatures. As for multi-chip module technology, a test sample of the multi-chip module shows good reliability of electrical connections between chips, and each solder bump has a bandwidth wide enough for signal transmission. We have designed lower power SFQ circuits for sub-Kelvin temperatures. The critical currents of Josephson junctions were scaled down, inductances were scaled up, and bias voltage was reduced to make power consumption lower. Based on our fabrication technology, critical current densities were optimized by considering trade-off relations between fabrication availability and operation speed. We successfully confirmed its correct operations at around 0.35 K. The combination of the multi-chip module and optimized SFQ circuits is very effective way of controlling qubit.
We developed a multi-chip module (MCM) system of superconducting quantum bits with single-flux quantum (SFQ) interface circuits. The MCM system consists of chips with quantum bits and chips with SFQ circuits mounted on a base chip by flip-chip bonding (FCB) with superconducting solder. We report on a reliability test of the MCM system. The test was done using a resistance measurement of an MCM with 30 mum diameter bumps. Tested samples showed good durability against thermal cycles between room temperature and 4.2 K. At 4.2 K, the resistance measured through more than two hundred bumps in a series was less than 1 mOmega. Along with achieving a high reliability, reducing thermal interference from SFQ circuits to quantum bits is important. We must understand the thermal conductance between and within the chips to design a system with minimum interference. An MCM on-chip thermometer which is based on the Johnson noise thermometry, has been designed and fabricated to achieve this desired level. The preliminary results of the thermal measurement are reported.
We have demonstrated superconducting interconnect technologies that enable a variety of flip-chip 3D integrated structures and packages compatible with high-coherence superconducting qubits. Superconducting indium micro-bumps and underbump metal (UBM) were used to join superconducting qubit chips to superconducting readout and control modules while maintaining high qubit coherence (T1, T2,echo> 20 μs) in the presence of capacitive and inductive coupling between the chips. Scanning electron microscope, X-ray, infrared and confocal microscopy were used to investigate the micro-structure, alignment accuracy, and parallelism of flip-chip qubits. The superconducting readout and control modules can accommodate both niobium and aluminum-based circuit and amplifier fabrication processes, including shadow-evaporated aluminum or Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb trilayer Josephson junctions (JJs). We present results for up to 16 active superconducting chips having trilayer junctions bonded to a passive superconducting module. The I-V characteristics and switching behavior were measured for flip-chip-connected JJ arrays with 40-20,000 JJs. Our approach maintained chip-level junction critical current and qubit coherence, demonstrating it to be a viable approach to building larger quantum computing systems. This paper also discusses packaging approaches to developing a quantum-to-classical interface in a cryogenic environment with multiple temperature stages.
We developed a process for fabricating nitride superconductor-based superconducting qubits monolithically integrated with a single flux quantum (SFQ)-based readout and control circuits. Since we used a Josephson junction (JJ) made of an NbN/AlN/NbN tri-layer, including a critical current density (Jc) of 50 A/cm2as the suitable material for superconducting qubits and SFQ readout/control circuits operating at 20 mK, the JJs for both the qubits and the SFQ circuits could simultaneously be fabricated. The device structure was also composed of three superconductive layers, comprising two superconductive layers as wiring layers and other layers as the top ground plane. Then, we used a Pd film as the resistive layer, which is required as the shunt resistors and the bias resistors for the SFQ control circuits, followed by an investigation of the properties of NbN/AlN/NbN epitaxial junctions and evaluation of the sheet inductance of the base NbN and wiring NbTiN layer. Our results showed the successful fabrication of a JJ with a sufficiently low leakage current and aJcof around 50 A/cm2, which was close to the target value. Furthermore, the evaluated sheet inductance exceeded 1 pH, which was several times larger than the values obtained for Nb-integrated circuits.
The use of high-frequency input signals from room-temperature microwave sources makes it difficult to scale up the number of quantum bits in universal quantum computers. To address this issue, superconducting single flux quantum (SFQ) integrated circuits are being explored as suitable candidates for qubit manipulation in universal quantum computers. Previously, we designed a low-power SFQ qubit control circuit (SQCC) to produce an equidistant SFQ pulse train without high-frequency input. It was reported that the fidelity of qubit control could be further improved if the pattern of SFQ pulse train could be adjustable. In this paper, we present optimized designs for different pattern requirements of qubit control, building upon the SQCC without high-frequency input. These designs feature segmented frequency modulation circuits, as well as circuits capable of outputting arbitrary patterns. The circuit capable of generating arbitrary patterns currently achieves a maximum adjustable number of 400, with a corresponding frequency output of 20 GHz. It has been successfully fabricated using the SIMIT Nb03 process and has passed functionality measurement tests. The optimized circuit opens up possibilities for improved qubit control and advancements in quantum computing applications.
Our aim was to develop the concepts and perform the experiments to establish a clear path towards useful quantum coherent computation using superconducting flux-based qubits. We have concentrated upon using superconducting single flux quantum (SFQ) circuitry integrated on the qubit chip to act as the interface between a quantum circuit and laboratory electronics. We have developed SFQ circuits for initialization and for read-out of the quantum state of a qubit; for precise timing of duration and exact biasing all with picosecond-scale precision. We developed a set of techniques to design such qubit control circuitry while preserving proper isolation (not significantly contributing to decoherence). We also designed an SFQ experiment to investigate quantum behavior using foundry-fabricated chips at higher temperatures. We acquired and custom set-up a He3 refrigerator, and demonstrated SFQ circuit functionality at 300 mK for the first time. We have investigated a new method for quantum control both analytically and numerically, using isolated SFQ pulses instead of resonant excitation, and shown that the minimum operation time can be dramatically decreased ii some cases. However, the complete lack of custom fabrication has prevented us from making progress towards our experimental goals.