Russia has opened its first contract production of superconducting quantum processors on 100 mm plates. A collaboration between MSTU named after N.E. Bauman and FSUE “VNIIA named after N.L. Dukhov” has led to this initiative, aimed at meeting the increasing demand for superconducting integrated circuits from technological companies and scientific laboratories. The production facility will be located in the new Campus of MSTU named after N.E. Bauman. According to the university’s website, the annual demand for superconducting integrated circuits is expected to increase by over 35% by 2030.
Quantum processors are seen as essential for the development of exaflop supercomputers, crucial for solving a wide range of problems, from theoretical physics to industrial, medical, and business applications. These processors will act as coprocessors, providing additional computational power and managing tasks much faster.
“Supercomputing has become a top priority for major world powers due to the adoption of artificial intelligence methods,” noted Alexander Andriyash, the supervisor of FSUE VNIIA named after N.L. Dukhov. “The goal of increasing the performance of Russian supercomputers tenfold by 2030 can be achieved with the help of MSTU named after N.E. Bauman and their serial quantum technologies.”
The transition from single crystal production to mass production was made possible by the development of their own technology for superconducting Josephson circuits. Each plate contains hundreds of chips with various devices, all fabricated using a common manufacturing process that took several years to perfect.
An important aspect of the mass production process was the creation of nano-sized superconducting devices called Josephson junctions. These junctions consist of a three-layer structure of aluminum, tunnel oxide aluminum, and aluminum (al-alox -l), with the cube “born” when the chip is cooled to a temperature below -273 degrees Celsius, transitioning to a superconducting state.
The technology for producing Josephson junctions with linear dimensions of ten meters and sub-nanometer precision has enabled record-breaking electrical characteristics and parameter reproduction for the processors on a global scale, as published in Scientific Reports Vol. 13, 6772 (2023).