Intel released its quantum research spin qubit chip for researchers to directly control the hardware and acquire more practical knowledge about the quantum chip as Intel persues quantum computing.
Intel said in a press release that it would send its quantum research chip, Tunnel Falls, to the quantum research community. Intel will collaborate with Qubit Collaboratory to provide Tunnel Falls to research laboratories, democratizing silicon spin qubits to gain hands-on experience working with scaled arrays of these qubits.
Intel will send Tunnel Falls to quantum labs, including the Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the University of Maryland, Sandia National Laboratories, the University of Rochester, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. According to Intel, Tunnel Falls will help researchers do a wider range of experiments and learn more about the fundamentals of qubits and quantum dots without having to fabricate their chips on their own.
Intel attempts to provide universities access to directly control the hardware. Contrastly, Ars Technica reported that other companies developing quantum computers might provide their customers, if any, access via cloud service and developer's kit.
Tunnel Falls is a 12-qubit silicon spin chip based on the quantum dot structure fabricated on 300mm wafers with CMOS technology. Its qubit count is not superior to other quantum devices, but Tunnel Falls is much smaller, about 50nm by 50nm, than its peers, thanks to Intel's silicon fabrication technology. Besides, Intel said that as Tunnel Falls is fabricated similarly to the CMOS logic process, it has a 95% yield rate across the wafer and voltage uniformity.
