Silicon Qubits
Abstract
There are two good reasons to attempt to build quantum bits (qubits) out of silicon. The first is the obvious foundation of classical microelectronics. Although silicon quantum computers would operate in a fundamentally different way from classical computers$-$for example, at cryogenic temperatures$-$still the level of development in material quality, crystal growth, and fabrication methodologies for silicon is unrivaled by any other material in the world. Leveraging even a small fraction of the worldwide investment in silicon for qubit development could potentially put silicon-based qubits far ahead of other solid-state alternatives. The second, less obvious reason for choosing silicon is the remarkably clean magnetic environment witnessed by spins in highly purified and isotopically enriched silicon material. Fortuitously, 95.3% of the naturally occurring isotopes of Si nuclei (28Si and 30Si) are spin-0. These nuclei therefore have a “closed shell” of nuclear moments, providing no external magnetic field whatsoever. Add to this the possibility of intrinsic silicon with part-per-billion chemical quality and the system is remarkably close to “vacuum” with respect to magnetic noise properties.
- Authors:
-
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- HRL Lab. LLC, Malibu, CA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1478329
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-2017-5868J
653840
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Encyclopedia of Modern Optics
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; Charge qubit; CMOS; Donor; Exchange interaction; Heterostructure; Quantum computing; Quantum dot; Quantum measurement; SiGe; Single electron transistor; Spin qubit; STM lithography; Valley splitting
Citation Formats
Carroll, Malcolm S., and Ladd, Thaddeus D. Silicon Qubits. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-803581-8.09736-8.
Carroll, Malcolm S., & Ladd, Thaddeus D. Silicon Qubits. United States. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-803581-8.09736-8.
Carroll, Malcolm S., and Ladd, Thaddeus D. Wed .
"Silicon Qubits". United States. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-803581-8.09736-8. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1478329.
@article{osti_1478329,
title = {Silicon Qubits},
author = {Carroll, Malcolm S. and Ladd, Thaddeus D.},
abstractNote = {There are two good reasons to attempt to build quantum bits (qubits) out of silicon. The first is the obvious foundation of classical microelectronics. Although silicon quantum computers would operate in a fundamentally different way from classical computers$-$for example, at cryogenic temperatures$-$still the level of development in material quality, crystal growth, and fabrication methodologies for silicon is unrivaled by any other material in the world. Leveraging even a small fraction of the worldwide investment in silicon for qubit development could potentially put silicon-based qubits far ahead of other solid-state alternatives. The second, less obvious reason for choosing silicon is the remarkably clean magnetic environment witnessed by spins in highly purified and isotopically enriched silicon material. Fortuitously, 95.3% of the naturally occurring isotopes of Si nuclei (28Si and 30Si) are spin-0. These nuclei therefore have a “closed shell” of nuclear moments, providing no external magnetic field whatsoever. Add to this the possibility of intrinsic silicon with part-per-billion chemical quality and the system is remarkably close to “vacuum” with respect to magnetic noise properties.},
doi = {10.1016/b978-0-12-803581-8.09736-8},
journal = {Encyclopedia of Modern Optics},
number = ,
volume = 1,
place = {United States},
year = {2018},
month = {2}
}
Figures / Tables:

Works referencing / citing this record:
Single-spin qubits in isotopically enriched silicon at low magnetic field
journal, December 2019
- Zhao, R.; Tanttu, T.; Tan, K. Y.
- Nature Communications, Vol. 10, Issue 1
Fidelity benchmarks for two-qubit gates in silicon
journal, May 2019
- Huang, W.; Yang, C. H.; Chan, K. W.
- Nature, Vol. 569, Issue 7757
Figures / Tables found in this record: