Quantum computing has been a long-anticipated emerging computational paradigm to complement and compete with conventional CMOS technologies. The last decade has featured reports of the initial development of using CMOS processing techniques for qubits and the atomistic fabrication of single atom transistors. Will the semiconductor industry embrace this new architype, and if so, how? When quantum devices begin to scale as predicted, will our industry be ready to integrate radically different architectures and device structures? Are there known obstacles not yet addressed that would enable the industry to more readily adopt and benefit from today’s achievements in the laboratory? What are the emerging designs and the potential fundamental challenges that are to be overcome? We have assembled a panel of experts that will share their insights on the state-of-the-art in quantum computing as well as intellectual leaders that will share their vision of the eventual merger of these new technologies with our computing capabilities today, even as lithography is approaching the near-atomic domain. Join us as we discuss the impending critical impact of quantum computing on the semiconductor industry.
Quantum computing has been a long-anticipated emerging computational paradigm to complement and compete with conventional CMOS technologies. The last decade has featured reports of the initial development of using CMOS processing techniques for qubits and the atomistic fabrication of single atom transistors. Will the semiconductor industry embrace this new architype, and if so, how? When quantum devices begin to scale as predicted, will our industry be ready to integrate radically different architectures and device structures? Are there known obstacles not yet addressed that would enable the industry to more readily adopt and benefit from today’s achievements in the laboratory? What are the emerging designs and the potential fundamental challenges that are to be overcome? We have assembled a panel of experts that will share their insights on the state-of-the-art in quantum computing as well as intellectual leaders that will share their vision of the eventual merger of these new technologies with our computing capabilities today, even as lithography is approaching the near-atomic domain. Join us as we discuss the impending critical impact of quantum computing on the semiconductor industry.
Over the last 20 years there has been a steady increase in fundamental physics research and the hardware development needed to realize a quantum computer. However, in the last 5 years we have seen a dramatic increase in the interest from industry, including a variety of major semiconductor and technology leaders such as IBM, Google and Intel. This is the result of both a better understanding of the variety of problems that can be addressed and the impact that will come with quantum computing along with the emergence of a couple of potentially scalable hardware solutions. In a recent interview with a leading manufacturer, an aggressive strategy was laid out to achieve an operational 1000-qubit quantum computer within 5 years that can solve a variety of problems not addressable by conventional computing and the 10-year prospect to achieve a 1 million qubit machine that would “profoundly change society”. The major technology leaders view quantum information (QI) as a technology that they must begin to develop and understand today. Augmenting existing technology with QI is desirable, but , there are a variety of technical challenges to making silicon-based QI systems with the needed quantum properties and coherence times. New challenges in atomic precision and individual atom or electron effects that fundamentally affect device performance bring on a variety of new manufacturing and metrology challenges. Measuring electron spin coherence, exchange energies, and qubit fidelity are entirely new measurements for the semiconductor industry. Even the resolution of TEM may be inadequate, as TEM of a nominally 80 nm thick slice of silicon which averages many atoms together in a measurement where only one or two atoms can deeply change device performance, coherence times, or introduce charge offsets. After developing some of the first cold atom and ion trap quantum information demonstrations at NIST, we are now investing significantly in developing the supporting metrology and modeling methods needed to help industry develop and commercialize this new technology. In this presentation we will provide an overview of hardware solutions for quantum computing, future metrology needs and challenges to enable manufacturable quantum computers. Although industry leaders are now investing in superconducting qubits and silicon-based qubits, the two leading technologies, this talk will primarily focus on the principles of solid state silicon QI operation, manufacturing metrology solutions, and measurements needed to develop and evaluate viable technological solutions.
Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology has radically reshaped the world by taking humanity to the digital age. Cramming more transistors into the same physical space has enabled an exponential increase in computational performance, a strategy that has been recently hampered by the increasing complexity and cost of miniaturization. To continue achieving significant gains in computing performance, new computing paradigms, such as quantum computing, must be developed. However, finding the optimal physical system to process quantum information, and scale it up to the large number of qubits necessary to build a general-purpose quantum computer, remains a significant challenge. Recent breakthroughs in nanodevice engineering have shown that qubits can now be manufactured in a similar fashion to silicon field-effect transistors, opening an opportunity to leverage the know-how of the CMOS industry to address the scaling challenge. In this article, we focus on the analysis of the scaling prospects of quantum computing systems based on CMOS technology.
Semiconductors, a significant type of material in the information era, are becoming more and more powerful in the field of quantum information. In recent decades, semiconductor quantum computation was investigated thoroughly across the world and developed with a dramatically fast speed. The research varied from initialization, control and readout of qubits, to the architecture of fault-tolerant quantum computing. Here, we first introduce the basic ideas for quantum computing, and then discuss the developments of single- and two-qubit gate control in semiconductors. Up to now, the qubit initialization, control and readout can be realized with relatively high fidelity and a programmable two-qubit quantum processor has even been demonstrated. However, to further improve the qubit quality and scale it up, there are still some challenges to resolve such as the improvement of the readout method, material development and scalable designs. We discuss these issues and introduce the forefronts of progress. Finally, considering the positive trend of the research on semiconductor quantum devices and recent theoretical work on the applications of quantum computation, we anticipate that semiconductor quantum computation may develop fast and will have a huge impact on our lives in the near future.
Quantum computing represents a paradigm shift in information processing, promising unprecedented computational power and the ability to solve complex problems that are currently beyond the reach of classical computers. This Review provides a concise overview of the potential impacts of quantum computing on the Information Technology (IT) industry, exploring key advancements, challenges, and transformative possibilities. Quantum computing leverages the principles of quantum mechanics, such as superposition and entanglement, to perform computations in ways that classical computers cannot emulate. This review examines the potential ramifications for the IT industry, addressing crucial aspects shaping the future of quantum computing. The impacts on cryptography, a cornerstone of IT security, are discussed, as quantum computers have the potential to break widely used encryption algorithms, necessitating the development of quantum-resistant cryptographic solutions. Additionally, the Review delves into the optimization of complex problem-solving tasks, such as optimization problems and machine learning algorithms, offering a glimpse into the transformative potential of quantum computing in accelerating data analysis and decision-making processes. Challenges in realizing the full potential of quantum computing, including error correction, qubit stability, and hardware development, are also explored. As quantum computers are still in the nascent stages of development, addressing these challenges is imperative for harnessing their true capabilities. The Review concludes by highlighting the collaborative efforts of industry leaders, researchers, and policymakers in advancing quantum computing technologies. Initiatives and investments are underway to develop scalable and commercially viable quantum hardware and software, signaling the beginning of a new era in information processing. In summary, this Review provides a snapshot of the evolving landscape of quantum computing and its potential impacts on the IT industry. As quantum technologies continue to mature, their transformative influence on cryptography, problem-solving tasks, and computational capabilities is poised to reshape the IT industry, prompting stakeholders to adapt and capitalize on the quantum computing revolution.
For the realization of a quantum computer, a good qubit design as the basic building block is a nontrivial starting point. To fully leverage the potential of quantum computing, quantum processors will likely have to incorporate billions of high-quality qubits. Several approaches are being pursued and exhibit different strength and weaknesses. The device concepts and fabrication procedures for semiconductor based qubits are very similar to those used in the semiconductor industry. Using the spin-degree of freedom, their coherence properties and the quality of single-qubit operations have now reached the required level and are on par with competing approaches. Two-qubit operations will likely follow suit in the near future. With these basic requirements being met, it is now time to think if and how increasingly large multi-qubit systems and eventually functional quantum processor can be realized. This quest raises many pertinent questions, some of which equally apply to other qubit platforms. How reproducibly can the different types of semiconductor qubits be produced? How can their operating point be adjusted efficiently and in an automated way? How can they be connected to form meaningful multi-qubit circuits? How severe are multi-qubit control issues such as crosstalk and frequency crowding, and how can they be avoided? What control system architectures are most suitable for operating large numbers of qubits? What is the limit of cryogenic electronics regarding power consumption and integration density? This paper gives a (partial) overview of the state of the art in the field and discusses future challenges associated with the realization of large-scale quantum processors, many of which will greatly benefit from input from engineering science. The guiding vision is that of a highly integrated quantum processor with an ultra-low power cryogenic control system.
There are signs that we are approaching a technical revolution that might take humankind’s computational capabilities to a new level. Quantum Computing leverages the principles of quantum mechanics, enabling the computational power to solve specific problems currently intractable for classical computers (e.g., cracking cryptographic keys). Since we are getting to a point where we can no longer build smaller, more powerful, more efficient devices with conventional methodologies, we need to think of new ways for technological progress. The manufacturing of microchips is reaching its limits in the use of traditional architectures. Hence, new and more advanced technologies need to address the challenges of increasing energy consumption and data processing. Connectivity, scalable architectures and concepts like Cloud Computing and Software-as-a-Service have already helped to scale computational-intense applications in the last years and have attracted the interest of IS researchers (e.g., Benlian et al. 2009 ; Benlian et al. 2018 ; Messerschmidt and Hinz 2013 ). Looking ahead to the next generation, computing will comprise technologies that enable high-performance applications far beyond today’s possibilities. One prominent example with a disruptive potential is Quantum Computing. While there are abundant open questions and directions for further developments, researchers in this area have made substantial progress in the last decade, indicating that, after medical imaging, lasers, and superconductors, another quantum-technological innovation might be approaching. We, therefore, intend to provide an overview of the current state of Quantum Computing research and outline how this new technology might stimulate research in Information Systems.