![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
AlphaAtlas
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2018
- Messages
- 1,713
However impressive your phase change or LN2 setup may be, it looks like Intel has you beat. According to a recent press release from the chip giant, Intel is making extensive use of extreme cooling in their Cryogenic Wafer Probe, a contraption designed to analyze quantum bits on 300mm wafers at least an order of magnitude faster than previous devices. Intel says that analyzing their quantum chips is "very different" than analyzing traditional chips from the same Oregon fab, as turn on characteristics must be measured "at low temperatures of less than a few kelvins above absolute zero." Intel didn't divulge many technical details about the cryoprober itself, and they would probably be way over my head anyway, but I'd imagine that this device uses liquid Helium to cool the wafers it analyzes, instead of the liquid Nitrogen you see in more "conventional" cryogenic devices like LN2 pots.
"Intel approached us more than a year ago, looking for a tool with the possibility to probe 300mm wafers at temperatures of only a few kelvins," said Dr. David Gunnarsson, Bluefors chief sales officer and principal scientist. "This was indeed a challenge, and to be able to take on a tool like this, we reached out to another Finnish company, Afore, which has long experience in specialized wafer probe systems. Together we came up with a design for a tool, the cryogenic wafer prober, which we now have constructed and assembled. We are looking forward in excitement to see the advances this tool will bring to the future of quantum computing..." In a first demonstration of the utility of the Cryogenic Wafer Prober, Intel measured the electrical turn-on characteristic for more than 100 qubit structures across a wafer fabricated at Intel's silicon qubit fabrication flow on its 300mm processing line in Oregon. The attached graphic illustrates the tool’s novel ability to collect high-volume cryogenic data and create a statistical correlation of the increase in turn-on voltage between room temperature and cryogenic temperature. With this tool, Intel will be able to speed feedback into the silicon spin qubit fabrication line and accelerate quantum computing research and development.
"Intel approached us more than a year ago, looking for a tool with the possibility to probe 300mm wafers at temperatures of only a few kelvins," said Dr. David Gunnarsson, Bluefors chief sales officer and principal scientist. "This was indeed a challenge, and to be able to take on a tool like this, we reached out to another Finnish company, Afore, which has long experience in specialized wafer probe systems. Together we came up with a design for a tool, the cryogenic wafer prober, which we now have constructed and assembled. We are looking forward in excitement to see the advances this tool will bring to the future of quantum computing..." In a first demonstration of the utility of the Cryogenic Wafer Prober, Intel measured the electrical turn-on characteristic for more than 100 qubit structures across a wafer fabricated at Intel's silicon qubit fabrication flow on its 300mm processing line in Oregon. The attached graphic illustrates the tool’s novel ability to collect high-volume cryogenic data and create a statistical correlation of the increase in turn-on voltage between room temperature and cryogenic temperature. With this tool, Intel will be able to speed feedback into the silicon spin qubit fabrication line and accelerate quantum computing research and development.
