Imec has demonstrated the world’s first quantum dot qubit device fabricated using High NA EUV lithography. This marks a milestone toward industrial-scale production of reliable qubits for quantum computers.
Quantum computers offer exponential performance advantages over classical systems for specific tasks such as drug discovery and physical process simulation. Practical quantum computing, however, requires scaling to millions of interconnected qubits with high reliability and precise control.
Among existing quantum platforms, silicon quantum dot spin qubits are considered promising for industrial scaling due to their compatibility with standard CMOS manufacturing processes. These “industry qubits” confine an electron within a silicon nanostructure; the electron’s spin state stores quantum information. Minimizing gaps between control gates is essential to reducing environmental noise.
Imec has fabricated a functional qubit network with gate gaps of just 6 nm using High NA EUV lithography. At this nanoscale, millions of qubits could theoretically be integrated onto a single chip.
This achievement builds on imec’s prior work with silicon quantum dot spin qubits, which already demonstrated low charge noise and stable operation using CMOS-compatible processes. By integrating High NA EUV lithography, the focus shifts from lab-scale individual devices to reproducible, 300 mm fab-compatible qubits.
While High NA EUV lithography is already recognized as essential for sub-2 nm logic and high-density memory that support advanced AI and high-performance computing, this result also confirms its critical role in future quantum computing hardware.
