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EDFA Technical Articles

Failure Modes in Microfabricated Ion Trap Devices for Quantum Information Science

Matthew G. Blain, Raymond A. Haltli, Melissa Revelle

Published Nov 1, 2021• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract Trapped ion systems are one of the leading technology platforms for quantum computing. This article describes the construction and operation of ion trap devices and the various modes of failure that have been observed. Examples of failure in either the rendering or use of packaged trap chips are presented, including electrode shorts and opens, detached bond wires, and RF breakdown damage.

DOI
10.31399/asm.edfa.2021-4.p028

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Abstract Trapped ion systems are one of the leading technology platforms for quantum computing. This article describes the construction and operation of ion trap devices and the various modes of failure that have been observed. Examples of failure in either the rendering or use of packaged trap chips are presented, including electrode shorts and opens, detached bond wires, and RF breakdown damage.
Over the past 15 years ion traps have demonstrated all the building blocks required of a quantum computer. Despite this success, trapping ions remains a challenging task, with the requirement for extensive laser systems and vacuum systems to perform operations on only a handful of qubits. To scale these proof of principle experiments into something that can outperform a classical computer requires an advancement in the trap technologies that will allow multiple trapping zones, junctions and utilize scalable fabrication technologies. I will discuss the construction of an ion trapping experiment, focussing on my work towards the laser stabilization and ion trap design but also covering the experimental setup as a whole. The vacuum system that I designed allows the mounting and testing of a variety of ion trap chips, with versatile optical access and a fast turn around time. I will also present the design and fabrication of a microfabricated Y junction and a 2- dimensional ion trap lattice. I achieve a suppression of barrier height and small variation of secular frequency through the Y junction, aiding to the junctions applicability to adiabatic shuttling operations. I also report the design and fabrication of a 2-D ion trap lattice. Such structures have been proposed as a means to implement quantum simulators and to my knowledge is the first microfabricated lattice trap. Electrical testing of the trap structures was undertaken to investigate the breakdown voltage of microfabricated structures with both static and radio frequency voltages. The results from these tests negate the concern over reduced rf voltage breakdown and in fact demonstrates breakdown voltages significantly above that typically required for ion trapping. This may allow ion traps to be designed to operate with higher voltages and greater ion-electrode separations, reducing anomalous heating. Lastly I present my work towards the implementation of magnetic fields gradients and microwaves on chip. This may allow coupling of the ions internal state to its motion using microwaves, thus reducing the requirements for the use of laser systems.
Quantum information processing (QIP) has become a hot research topic as evidenced by S. Haroche and D. J. Wineland receiving the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2012. Various MEMS-based microfabrication methods will be a key enabling technology in implementing novel and scalable ion traps for QIP. This paper provides a brief introduction of ion trap devices, and reviews ion traps made using conventional precision machining as well as MEMS-based microfabrication. Then, microfabrication methods for ion traps are explained in detail. Finally, current research issues in microfabricated ion traps are presented. The QIP renders significant new challenges for MEMS, as various QIP technologies are being developed for secure encrypted communication and complex computing applications.
Microfabricated ion traps are an important tool in the development of scalable quantum systems. Tremendous advancements towards an ion quantum computer were made in the past decade and most requirements for a quantum computer have been fulfilled in individual experiments. Incorporating all essential capabilities in a fully scalable system will require the further advancement of established quantum information technologies and development of new trap fabrication techniques. In my thesis I will discuss the theoretical background and experimental setup required for the operation of ion traps. Measurement of the important ion trap heating rate was performed in the setup and I will discuss the results in more detail. I will give a review of microfabrication processes used for the fabrication of traps, outlining advantages, disadvantages and issues inherent to the processes. Following the review I will present my work on a concept for a scalable ion trap quantum system based on microwave quantum gates and shuttling through X-junctions. Many of the required building blocks, including ion trap structures with current-carrying wires intended to create strong magnetic field gradients for microwave gates were investigated further. A novel fabrication process was developed to combine current-carrying wires with advanced multilayered ion trap structures. Several trap designs intended for proof of principle experiments of high fidelity microwave gates, advanced detection techniques and shuttling between electrically disconnected ion traps will be presented. Also the electrode geometry of an optimized X-junction design with strongly suppressed rf barrier height will be presented. Further, I developed several modifications for the experimental setup to extend the existing capabilities. A plasma source capable of performing in-situ cleans of the trap electrode surfaces, which has been demonstrated to dramatically reduce the heating rate in ion traps, was incorporated. I will also present a vacuum system modification designed to cool ion traps with current-carrying wires and transport the generated heat out of the vacuum system. In addition a novel low-noise, high-speed, multichannel voltage control system was developed by me. The device can be used in future experiments to precisely shuttle ions from one trapping zone to another and also to shuttle ions through ion trap junctions. Lastly I will outline the process optimization and microfabrication of my ion trap designs. A novel fabrication process which makes use of the extremely high thermal conductivity of diamond substrates and combines it with thick copper tracks embedded in the substrate was developed. Large currents will be passed through the wires creating a strong and controllable magnetic field gradient. Ion trap designs with isolated electrodes connected via buried wires can be placed on top of the current-carrying wires, allowing the most advanced electrode designs to be fabricated with current-carrying wires.
Ion traps can provide both physical implementation of quantum information processing and direct observation of quantum systems. Recently, surface ion traps have been developed using microfabrication technologies and are considered to be a promising platform for scalable quantum devices. This paper presents detailed guidelines for designing the electrodes of surface ion traps. First, we define and explain the key specifications including trap depth, q-parameter, secular frequency, and ion height. Then, we present a numerical-simulation-based design procedure, which involves determining the basic assumptions, determining the shape and size of the chip, designing the dimensions of the radio frequency (RF) electrode, and analyzing the direct current (DC) control voltages. As an example of this design procedure, we present a case study with tutorial-like explanations. The proposed design procedure can provide a practical guideline for designing the electrodes of surface ion traps.
Microfabricated surface ion traps are a principal component of many ion-based quantum information science platforms. The operational parameters of these devices are pushed to the edge of their physical capabilities as the experiments strive for increasing performance. When the applied radio-frequency (RF) voltage is increased excessively, the devices can experience damaging electric discharge events known as RF breakdown. We introduce two novel techniques for in situ detection of RF breakdown, which we implemented while characterizing the breakdown threshold of surface ion traps produced at Sandia National Laboratories. In these traps, breakdown did not always occur immediately after increasing the RF voltage, but often minutes or even hours later. This result is surprising in the context of the suggested mechanisms for RF breakdown in vacuum. Additionally, the extent of visible damage caused by breakdown events increased with the applied voltage. To minimize the probability for damage when RF power is first applied to a device, our results strongly suggest that the voltage should be ramped up over the course of several hours and monitored for breakdown.