Semiconductor company Archer Materials has advanced its quantum chip project by building an integrated pulsed electron spin resonance (p-ESR) microsystem on a chip to detect and analyse materials for important signs of quantum electron spin manipulation at a very small scale.
(Left) The 0.7 mm2 single chip integrated pulsed electron spin resonance microsystem, indicated by the arrow, which is glued on a printed circuit board and electronically connected by gold wire bonding. (Right) Photograph under magnification of the chip area showing some of the integrated micron sized components, including micro coils. The chip stands in contrast to traditional ESR instrument systems that often entail bulky and complex setups that require significant space and resources. Image Credit: Archer Materials Technology
Developed with university and research partner École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, the p-ESR chip helps move Archer towards developing qubit (quantum bits of information) devices. Achieving qubit control and readout is required for quantum computing.
For now, Archer and EPFL intend to use the p-ESR to perform complex measurements involving the potential electron spin manipulation of Archer’s 12CQ quantum materials. From this, Archer will be able to explore opportunities in developing quantum sensors, advanced spectrometers, and analytical devices, opening new capability pathways on the road to building its 12CQ quantum chip.
Dr Mohammad Choucair, CEO of Archer, said that the p-ESR chip is a cutting-edge technology development in the industry.
“Archer and EPFL have engineered something new by creating the p-ESR chip. Not only is it a valuable tool in advancing Archer’s 12CQ chip project, but it opens a new pathway toward precision sensing in integrated and portable sensors for electronic devices.
“The p-ESR microsystem capabilities are integral for advancing Archer’s technology development and research in quantum materials related technologies,” said Dr Choucair.
Dr Choucair also said that this work and research helps move the 12CQ chip along in its early-stage development towards potentially enabling quantum in mobile devices.
“To get quantum computing to work, you normally need to deep freeze the qubits to close to zero Kelvin for them to function.
“At Archer, we’ve been able to achieve quantum coherence, a precursor to qubit functionality, at room temperature in air and have recorded unprecedented quantum coherence times for the unique 12CQ chip material. Quantum coherence time is the time-window for processing electron spin information in solid-state quantum electronic devices.” said Dr Choucair.
Dr Choucair said that working with EPFL is a strong example of utilising its fabless commercialisation model.
“As a fabless chip company, we know how important our industry relationships are in developing our R&D and design of our technologies. EPFL is a research partner that algins with our expertise and mission to usher in the next generation of technologies.” said Dr Choucair.
The technical details of the work related to the p-ESR development will be made publicly available as a scientific article in an open-access repository this week.