Development of cryo-CMOS to enable the next generation of scalable quantum computers

没有计算机，现代生活是不可想象的。计算需要越来越多的能源，这影响了全球低碳经济的发展，随着电路尺寸接近物理极限，摩尔定律正在放缓。量子计算机可以创造比经典计算机大得多的计算空间。它们将通过解决目前在化学、材料科学、物流、人工智能、机器学习和密码学等领域遥不可及的数值问题来塑造计算、科学和商业标准。建造世界上第一台实用量子计算机的竞赛正在进行中，这需要从几十个量子比特的阵列扩展到数千个量子比特，再到数百万个量子比特。为了实现这一点，我们需要创建量子比特阵列和控制电子学的集成系统。在大多数实现中，量子比特需要低温冷却，通常冷却到绝对零度以上几分之一度。然而，传统的cmos电子器件被设计为在室温下工作，如果这些芯片冷却到低温，晶体管的工作特性会发生显著变化，它们不再像预期的那样工作。这个问题在行业中得到了很好的认识。谷歌(Google)、微软(Microsoft)和英特尔(Intel)等主要参与者都在投资开发专门的“低温cmos”控制电子产品，这种电子产品可以在量子比特所需的非常寒冷的环境中运行。然而，大多数量子计算公司没有资源来开发用于低温的硅cmos工艺。相反，他们依赖于通过代工厂(例如台积电、GlobalFounddries)进行半导体制造，希望各种硅IP公司提供技术，使他们能够利用代工厂的制造能力。这种模式在开发用于室温操作的芯片方面效果很好，但它需要进行重大更新才能创造出能够在超低温下工作的新设计。该项目汇集了世界领先的cmos设计和量子计算专业知识。我们将创建用于低温的最新工艺设计工具包(PDK)和硅IP产品生态系统，使芯片设计人员能够使用已建立的无晶圆厂模型来开发铸造厂。因此，该项目将使量子计算公司能够扩展他们的硬件系统，以创造更强大的新一代量子计算机。

Modern life is unthinkable without computers. An ever-increasing amount of energy is required for computing, impacting the global drive to a low-carbon economy, and Moore's law is slowing as the circuit dimensions approach physical limits. Quantum computers can create a computational space much larger than their classical counterparts. They will shape computing, science and commercial standards by solving numerical problems that are currently out of reach in fields including chemistry, material science, logistics, artificial intelligence, machine learning and cryptography. The race is on to build the world's first practical quantum computers, which requires scaling from arrays of a few dozen qubits, to thousands, to millions of qubits. To achieve this, we need to create integrated systems of qubit arrays and control electronics. In most implementations, the qubits require cryogenic cooling, typically to a fraction of a degree above absolute zero. Yet conventional CMOS electronics is designed to operate at room temperature, and if these chips are cooled to cryogenic temperatures, the operating characteristics of the transistors change markedly, and they no longer work as intended. This problem is well recognised in the industry. Major players such as Google, Microsoft and Intel have all invested in progressing towards building specialised "cryo-CMOS" control electronics that can operate in the very cold environment that the qubits require. Most quantum computing companies, however, don't have the resources to develop silicon CMOS processes for cryogenic temperatures. Instead, they rely on semiconductor fabrication via foundries (e.g., TSMC, Globalfoundries), looking to various silicon IP companies to provide technology to enable them to exploit the foundries' manufacturing capability. This model has worked well for development of chips for room temperature operation, however it requires significant updating to create new designs that can work at ultra-cold temperatures. This project brings together world-leading expertise in CMOS design and quantum computing. We will create updated process design kits (PDKs) for cryogenic temperatures and an ecosystem of silicon IP products to enable chip designers to exploit foundries using the established fabless model. Thus the project will enable quantum computing companies to scale their hardware systems to create a new generation of more powerful quantum computers.