The Intel Lab today released a low temperature control chip of "Horse Ridge", only the size of the palm, can operate at the temperature of 4 Kelvin (zero 269 degrees Celsius), suitable for development of full stack quantum computing systems.
Intel said that Horse Ridge is the latest attempt to miniaturize the quantum control system, which is developed by the Dutch Delft University of Technology and Intel, using its own 22 nm FinFET technology. It enables control of multiple quantum bits to extend the clear route for Intel's future to large-scale system paving, enhance the ability to further design, test, and optimize commercial quantum computers.
Figure | Horse Ridge low temperature control chip (Source: Intel)
Quantum calculations are currently facing many challenges, one is that the superconducting quantum bit can really work only at temperatures close to absolute zero. Google and IBM require a large volume of mass control and cooling systems when developing quantum calculations, and some tubes are more than people, and hundreds of wires are required to connect to external microwave transmitters.
Jim Clarke, director of Intel Quantum, said, "Although people pay great attention to quantum bits itself, the ability to control multiple quantum bits is always the industry challenge. Intel realized that quantum control is our development of large-scale commercial quantum computing systems. One of the problems. This is why we have to invest quantum error correction and control. Horse Ridge, Intel has developed an extensible control system, which will greatly speed up our test and implementation of quantum calculation potential. "
Intel pointed out that since the establishment of quantum hardware sectors, it has been more important than "quantum practicability", and a "quantum utility", a determination "quantum system can completely change the game rules to solve the actual problem", to pursue practical use The development and commercialization of quantum systems are mainly.
Why is Horse Ridge important?
Since the beginning of the competition that realizes quantum computer function, the researchers are more concerned about the manufacture of quantum bits, and construct a test chip to prove a small number of stack of state quantum bit power. However, in the early quantum hardware development - including the design, testing and characterization of silicon spin quantum bit and superconducting sub-system - identified main bottlenecks from blocking quantum computing business: Interconnect And Control Electronics.
Intel believes that Horse Ridge has enabled a "elegant solution", allowing multiple quantum bits to be controlled, and set a clear path to the system that controls more quantum bits in the future, it is an important milestone to realize quantum practical. .
Researchers have been committed to building a small quantum system to demonstrate the potential of quantum equipment. In most cases, the quantum system is placed in a low temperature refrigeration system (similar to the refrigerator), and people use electronic components and high-performance large computing devices to connect them with traditional computing devices, and adjust quantum systems and quantums through the latter. Bit's performance.
(Source: Intel)
These devices are typically custom designed to control a single quantum bit, and hundreds of cables need to be allowed to control quantum processors across the "refrigerator". Verify the practicality of quantum systems requires thousands of quantum bits, and commercial quantum solutions even need millions of quantum bits, if each quantum bits need so many cables, the expansion of the system is serious Obstruction.
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With Horse Ridge, Intel fundamentally simplifies electronic control equipment required to run quantum systems. With highly integrated chip-on-system (SOC) replacement, simplifying the overall system design, allowing the use of complex signal processing technology to speed up setting time, improve quantum specificity and more efficiently to more quantum bits.
Horse ridge reduces cooling difficulty
Horse Ridge is a highly integrated mixed signal SOC, in addition to this, Intel has not disclosed more technical details.
It introduces the quantum bit of the control system into the refrigerator, which is as close as possible to the quantum bits itself, thereby effectively reduces the complexity of quantum control engineering: from hundreds of entering and out of the refrigerator wire, a separate package that is running near quantum equipment Chip.
The programming instruction of Horse Ridge is consistent with the operation of the basic quantum bit, and can act as a radio frequency (RF) processor to control the quantum bits running in the refrigerator. It converts the program instruction into a microwave pulse to control the state of the quantum bit.
(Source: Intel)
The Horse Ridge control chip is named in Oregon, meaning it supports the very low temperature of about 4 Kelvin. But even so, this temperature is higher than the temperature required for the superconductive sub-system, which greatly reduces the difficulty of the cooling quantum system.
As the Intel's competitor, Google and IBM focus on the research of superconductive quantum bits, and the driven quantum computing system needs to operate within the milling interval, only a little bit higher than absolute zero. However, Intel believes that silicon spinmetons have the potential for working at higher temperatures, about 1 Kairen, hoping to achieve differential competition.
In the future, as research continues, Intel hopes to allow low temperature control chips and silicon from running at the same temperature. This may unlock more advanced packages and interconnect technologies to create new solutions, such as integrating quantum bit and control systems in a simplified package.
Written in the last
In addition to the 22nm process, we currently don't know about the technical parameters of Intel Horse Ridge, such as how many quantum bits can also control how many quantum bits are controlled or increased to quantum bit calculation / control performance.
Given that Intel has tried to retry the leadership of computer chips in the mobile chip field, pouring a number of hearts of blood and huge funds, but still ending, now saying that Horse Ridge is subversive, it is a "killer" that surpasses Google and IBM. It is premature.
In any case, seeing different teams are willing to study and develop different quantum computing solutions, enough to make us feel fortunate, there is hope for the massive practicality of quantum computing.
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