Reviewed by Lexie CornerMay 29 2024
Researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen and the Center for Quantum Information Physics at New York University have joined forces to develop superconductor and semiconductor materials for use in manufacturing, which will improve the efficiency of electronics, quantum sensors, and computing power.
Under this new partnership, the viability of superconductor-semiconductor quantum materials will be investigated. The Center for Quantum Information Physics (CQIP) at NYU will collaborate with the Novo Nordisk Foundation Quantum Computing Programme (NQCP), a division of the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen.
We are excited to join forces with our colleagues at NQCP to study semiconductor and superconductor materials development to provide a direct path for the production of quantum chips.
Javad Shabani, Physics Professor and Director, Center for Quantum Information Physics, New York University
“Our mission at NQCP is to enable the development of fault-tolerant quantum computing for life sciences, and as a part of the program, we are looking at different paths to building quantum processor hardware. One promising direction for compact and high-speed quantum processing is based on hybrid semiconductor-superconductor materials. Therefore, we welcome this cross-Atlantic collaboration with CQIP, where the team has deep experience in studying these hybrid systems,” added Peter Krogstrup, Professor and CEO of Novo Nordisk Foundation Quantum Computing Programme, University of Copenhagen.
The creation of full-scale quantum chips will determine the direction of quantum computing in the future. Calculations using quantum computing can be completed much more quickly than those using traditional computing.
Data processing can be done at a much higher capacity and speed. Conventional computers process digital bits as 0s and 1s, but quantum computers use a process called entanglement to manipulate quantum bits (qubits) to tabulate any value between 0 and 1.
Such potential has yet to be fulfilled in solid-state platforms. This is partly because of the difficulties in integrating superconductivity (the energy-efficient transport of electricity) into semiconductors (the microchips and integrated circuits that form the basis of modern electronic devices).
Superconductor-semiconductor quantum materials have the potential to accelerate computations, enable new functionalities for quantum circuits, and provide novel approaches for combining these innovations with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) processes, which are employed in the fabrication of energy-efficient microprocessors, memory chips, image sensors, and other technologies.