Intel Claims Major Milestone in Quantum Chip Production

Intel has announced that it has sailed past a key milestone in the manufacturing of quantum computer processors. Intel Labs and Components Research organizations claim to have demonstrated the highest yield recorded for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography production of silicon spin qubit devices. At Intel’s Gordon Moore Park transistor research and development facility in Hillsboro, Oregon, the team of researchers and engineers managed to create quantum chips with “remarkable uniformity,” and a 95% yield rate across the 300mm silicon wafer.

(Image credit: Intel)

Intel silicon spin qubit progress

Cryoprober shows quantum dots formed on the test chip (Image credit: Intel)

With its second gen silicon spin test chip now thoroughly vetted, Intel will leverage statistical process control to make optimizations, extrapolating the progress it has already made to target the next-gen. It's hoped that eventually computer technology developers like Intel will be able to create quantum chips packing millions of qubits, and we are seeing the significant early stages of this growth process in 2022. Already, quantum computing is capable of some breathtaking calculations, and we're excited to see where things go in the coming years.

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Mark Tyson
News Editor

Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

  • spongiemaster
    the team of researchers and engineers managed to create quantum chips with “remarkable uniformity,” and a 95% yield rate across the 300mm silicon wafer.

    That's nice, but what most of us care about is how yields for Intel 4 are progressing.
    Reply
  • pclaughton
    spongiemaster said:
    That's nice, but what most of us care about is how yields for Intel 4 are progressing.
    Because clearly it's the same team working on that.
    Reply
  • Neilbob
    Interesting stuff, but it'd be a little more interesting if there was some indication of how large the chips are that result in this 95% yield rate. If they're 200mm2 then awesome. If they're 20mm2, not quite so much.
    Reply
  • Geef
    All Intel needs to do to make money is print up a bunch of fake silicon circles with what looks like chips on them and sell them online. People would buy those like crazy. Have that hanging on the wall next to the PC!
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    pclaughton said:
    Because clearly it's the same team working on that.
    Yes, but not relevant to my point.
    Reply