Former Australian of the Year Michelle Simmons’ deep tech startup says it is “on track” to build the world’s first commercial-scale quantum computer, with new research showing it has hurdled a key barrier to developing the technology at scale.
Silicon Quantum Computing will publish a paper in leading science journal Nature on Thursday showing its multi-qubit, multi-register quantum processor delivers record accuracy rates – known as fidelity – of between 99.5 and 99.99 per cent.
Most silicon quantum chips can only deliver fidelity over 99 per cent in a single qubit state. In addition to its record fidelity rate, SQC’s research also demonstrated that performance improved as more qubits were added, something that has not previously been achieved in a quantum processor.
Adding qubits usually increases error rates – or noise – meaning a commercial-scale quantum computer would need an unsustainable number of low-performance qubits to allow a few higher fidelity ‘logical’ qubits to perform.
SQC’s scientists were able to individually tune the frequencies of its processor’s 11 qubits, cutting down noise and improving performance.
SQC founder and chief executive Michelle Simmons called the results “an immense achievement that we’re proud to share with the world”.
“It’s a reflection of our careful choices in materials, architecture and modality, which puts us on track to deliver the world’s first commercial-scale quantum computer,” Professor Simmons said.
SQC says it has the most accurate semiconductor manufacturing process in the world, able to place phosphorous atoms within silicon wafers with “atomic precision”, or within 1.3 nanometres.
The 11-qubit processor groups the phosphorous in two ‘registers’ of four and five atoms, each atom forming a qubit able to process information as a one, a zero, or both simultaneously. The resonance, or spin, developed between the atoms across each register creates two additional qubits.
Silicon is considered one of the most promising for delivering commercial-scale quantum computers because existing manufacturing and research efforts for the use of silicon in standard computers means it is readily available in extremely pure forms and at quantity.
SQC was founded in 2017 with $83 million in seed capital from the federal and NSW governments, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Telstra and the University of New South Wales.
It is one of dozens of companies currently in a global race to bring the first commercial quantum computer to market, with Google, Microsoft and PsiQuantum amongst its competitors.
The company is taking part in a coveted benchmarking program run by US defence research agency DARPA to find the companies capable of achieving utility-scale by 2033.
It is one of two local firms taking part in the program, the other being UNSW spinout Diraq, which has publicly stated it is developing a quantum computer designed for commercial sale from 2029 onwards.
SQC’s first commercial product, a quantum machine learning processor, dubbed Watermelon, is already used by CBA, the federal Department of Defence and, most recently, Telstra.
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