Fast Pre-Test Screening Cryogenic Facility for speeding up the Development of Quantum Sensors

该提案寻求获得快速筛选低温系统的支持，以加快量子传感器的开发，以支持“隐藏领域的量子传感”项目（QSHS, ST/T006277/1），该项目由包括牛津大学在内的7个英国研究机构组成。超灵敏量子传感器的发展可以从快速筛选程序中受益匪浅，快速识别潜在的设计缺陷和制造缺陷，并允许研究人员预先选择有前途的候选设备，以进行全面的表征测量。在制造阶段，根据器件的设计和制造步骤的复杂性，收率可能不高，特别是在探索阶段。此外，在制造后，在实验评估这些量子器件的性能之前，仍需要许多微妙的步骤。这些制造后处理阶段可能是危险的，可能会对设备造成损坏。由于安装和测试单个器件的过程非常耗时，因此，更有效的方法是执行简单的直流和射频筛选，以确定每个晶圆上的数百个器件中哪一个最有希望进一步研究。快速筛选低温系统将使样品表征的吞吐量提高20-50倍，因此大大加快了低温超导量子器件的发展。在本应用中，我们寻求支持，以获得一个亚开尔文系统，其布线设置专门为适应我们的快速筛选目的而定制，具有承载不同类型量子器件的灵活性。这种系统可以从商业供应商处获得，为亚开尔文环境提供快速冷却时间，并为筛选过程提供较长的保持时间。该系统将能够在单个冷却周期内对多达40个设备进行直流测试，并对12个设备进行射频测试。它还将配备一套额外的射频电缆，用于现场全非线性射频特性，并配有适当的微波和射频组件，用于全器件特性。本申请申请的资金仅用于快速筛选低温系统的费用。现场测量所需的配套电子设备和微波组件的建造将由现有拨款支付。

This proposal seeks support to acquire a fast-screening cryogenic system to speed up the development of quantum sensors for supporting the project "Quantum Sensing for the Hidden Sector" (QSHS, ST/T006277/1), comprising 7 UK research institutes including the University of Oxford. The development of ultra-sensitive quantum sensors can be benefited hugely from a fast-screening procedure, identifying potential design flaws and fabrication defects quickly, and allowing the researchers to pre-select promising candidate devices to be brought forward for full characterisation measurements. During the fabrication stage, depending on the design of the devices and the complication in the fabrication steps, the yield may not be high, particularly in the exploratory stage. Furthermore, post-fabrication, there are still many delicate steps required before the performance of these quantum devices can be assessed experimentally. These post-fabrication handling stages can be hazardous, potentially causing damage to the devices. As the process of mounting and testing individual devices is time-consuming, it is, therefore, more effective to perform a simple DC and RF screening to identify which of the hundreds of devices on each wafer are most promising for further investigation.A fast-screening cryogenic system would allow up to 20-50 times faster throughput in sample characterisation, therefore significantly speeding up the developments of cryogenic superconducting quantum devices. In this application, we seek support to acquire a sub-Kelvin system with the wiring setup customised specifically to suit our fast-screening purpose, with the flexibility to host different types of quantum devices. Such a system can be acquired from a commercial supplier, providing fast cooling down time to the sub-Kelvin environment and a long hold time for the screening process. The system will have the capability to DC test up to 40 devices and RF test 12 devices in a single cooldown cycle. It would also be equipped with an additional set of RF cables for in-situ full nonlinear RF characterisation with appropriate microwave and RF components for full device characterisation. This application applies for funding to cover only the cost of the fast-screening cryogenic system. The build of accompanied electronics and the microwave components required for the in-situ measurement will be covered by the existing grant.