Today, an emergent quantum industry is eager to implement quantum computers that are significantly larger in size then current prototypes. The bleeding edge are now quantum processors having about 50 quantum bits, and the challenge is to pass the 1,000 quantum bit milestone. But this also means a huge amount of communication-channels between those quantum processors in a cryogenic fridge with external control electronics outside these fridges. At present, existing (coax) cabling technologies are inadequate for connecting quantum processors of that size with the outside world. This poses a critical bottleneck for developing large scale quantum computers, and without solving that problem, the quantum revolution will come to a halt. Delft Circuits is the first company that has developed ultra-thin cabling solutions for the emergent quantum industry. These are high-tech, flexible cables, fully dedicated to microwave frequencies in cryogenic environments. We are selling pre-cursor cabling products to various organisations worldwide since Q1 2019. Our Cri/oFlex® technology allows our customers to build quantum computers requiring many communication channels, since our present technology is already capable of shrinking the footprint significantly. Such reduction in footprint is an essential requirement for paving the way to large scale quantum computing. We will develop in this project a solution for integrating microwave and thermal components in a monolithic cabling solution. This is an essential step to further increase the scale of quantum computers towards 1,000 or more quantum bits. We have setup a network of validation and qualification partners, which collaborate in the project. Thereby, this project enables us to accelerate our product development to TRL8 significantly, to strengthen the European eco-system of SMEs in quantum industry, and to become an important player in the emergent value chain.

Delft Circuits designs, manufactures, and sells disruptive innovative hardware for the quantum and cryogenic industry. Its product Cri/oFlex offers a scalable cryogenic input and output (i/o) solutions used by customers around the world. Cri/oFlex controls and reads quantum devices operating at cryogenic temperatures via a flexible substrate (flex), offering superconducting, high-density, high-performance cabling with low thermal load, minimal noise and integrated filters. The quantum industry is booming and aims to capitalize on the huge potential of quantum for all kinds of computing problems, such as AI, machine learning and complex optimization problems. The industry needs to scale from 100+ qubits now to 10k qubits in a few years, increasing the number of i/o channels. As the number of i/o channels continues to grow, the possible points of failure grow with it and costs start to explode as (coaxial) components get smaller. To scale the number of qubits per system, reliability and ease of use need to increase, while costs need to decrease. High-density, low-cost and high-performance interfacing is critical in the 10k-qubit system value chain, but it is currently missing. We can now leverage Cri/oFlex, using all current and proven aspects of Cri/oFlex to solve the interfacing bottleneck with Tuxedo. Tuxedo is an interface between Cri/oFlex and super-conducting pcbs. With Tuxedo, we can achieve the interface for a very high density of signal lines against relatively low costs in a scalable architecture. With Cri/oFlex, DC has extensive experience in developing an innovative product from research to commercially ready and beyond, and DC sees all the potential of Tuxedo to be willing to invest in developing it to become ready for marketing at scale. With support of the EIC, DC can accelerate their development roadmap for Tuxedo effectively.

Delft Circuits designs, manufactures, and sells disruptive innovative hardware for the quantum and cryogenic industry. IDelft Circuits (DC) designs, manufactures, and sells disruptive innovative hardware for the quantum and cryogenic industry. Its product Cri/oFlex offers a scalable cryogenic input and output (i/o) solutions used by customers around the world. Cri/oFlex controls and reads quantum devices operating at cryogenic temperatures via a flexible substrate (flex), offering superconducting, high-density, high-performance cabling with low thermal load, minimal noise and integrated filters. The quantum industry is booming and aims to capitalize on the huge potential of quantum for all kinds of computing problems, such as AI, machine learning and complex optimization problems. The industry needs to scale from 100+ qubits now to 10k qubits in a few years, increasing the number of i/o channels. As the number of i/o channels continues to grow, the possible points of failure grow with it and costs start to explode as (coaxial) components get smaller. To scale the number of qubits per system, reliability and ease of use need to increase, while costs need to decrease. High-density, low-cost and high-performance interfacing is critical in the 10k-qubit system value chain, but it is currently missing. We can now leverage Cri/oFlex, using all current and proven aspects of Cri/oFlex to solve the interfacing bottleneck with Tuxedo. Tuxedo is an interface between Cri/oFlex and super-conducting pcbs. With Tuxedo, we can achieve the interface for a very high density of signal lines against relatively low costs in a scalable architecture. With Cri/oFlex, DC has extensive experience in developing an innovative product from research to commercially ready and beyond, and DC sees all the potential of Tuxedo to be willing to invest in developing it to become ready for marketing at scale. With support of the EIC, DC can accelerate their development roadmap for Tuxedo effectively.

Quantum annealers are devices that prepare the ground state of complex many-body quantum models. These quantum processors have a large transformative power -they can solve real-life problems of interest: scheduling, navigation, quantum chemistry, and many others-, and important technological advantages over universal quantum computers -no need for error correction nor accurate gate operations- that make such processors potentially simpler to design, build, and control. The goal of this consortium is to beat the limitations of current annealing devices regarding heating, noise and dephasing by building and operating a coherent quantum annealer based on superconducting qubits with high connectivity, tuneable interactions and long coherence times. The radical vision in AVaQus is to demonstrate the capacity of quantum annealers to act as general-purpose quantum simulators of spin models and non-universal quantum computers for variational algorithms. Our proposal banks on the progress of superconducting quantum technology and on well-developed superconducting qubit circuitry. However, unlike quantum computing, coherent quantum annealers are in earlier stages of development and this project represents a ramp-up effort to develop the core technology -qubits, tuneable couplings, layouts, controls- and ideas for sustainable scalability. Consequent with this vision, AVaQus brings together excellent European research groups and small to medium-sized enterprises, under the common goal of developing an integrated, small-size and fully-functional quantum processor that demonstrates coherent quantum annealing with 5 qubits fully connected in a multi-coupler network. We will also develop comprehensive real-life optimization problems and simulations in quantum chemistry, spin models and finance that are solved by our small-scale quantum annealer, create methods for validation and certification, and provide a route towards achieving a quantum advantage in larger-scale devices.

Over the past 60+ years CMOS-based digital computing has giving rise to ever-greater computational performance, „big data“-based business models and the accelerating digital transformation of modern economies. However, the ever-growing amounts of data to be handled and the increasing complexity of today’s tasks for high performance computing (HPC) are becoming unmanageable as the data handling and energy consumption of HPCs, server farms and cloud services grow to unsustainable levels. New concepts and technologies are needed. One such HPC technology is Quantum computing (QC). QC utilizes so-called quantum bits (qubits) to perform complex calculations fundamentally much faster than a conventional digital-bit computers can. First quantum computer prototypes have been created. Superconducting Josephson junctions (SJJs) have been shown to be extremely promising qubit candidates to achieve a significant nonlinear increase of computational power with the number of qubits. For novel materials there is a great challenge yet opportunity in Europe to create a complete value chain for SSJs and QCs. Such a complete value chain will contribute to Europe’s technology sovereignty. The MATQu project aims at validating the technology options to produce SJJs on industrial 300 mm silicon-based process flows. It covers substrate technology, superconducting metals, resonators, through-wafer-via holes, 3D integration, and variability characterization. These will be assessed with respect to integration practices of qubits. Core substrate and process technologies with high quality factors, improved material deposition on large-substrates, and increased critical temperature for superconducting operation, will be developed and validated. The MATQu partners complement each other in an optimal way across the value chain to create a substantial competitive advantage, e.g. faster time-to-market and roll-out of technologies and materials for better Josephson junctions for quantum computing.