Intel's cryogenic Horse Ridge chip aims to make quantum computers faster and smaller

The chip uses radiofrequency capabilities to control 128 qubits with a single device

Intel and QuTech, a Dutch quantum computing research organisation, have outlined technical details for a cryogenic control chip intended to make quantum computers faster and smaller.

Dubbed Horse Ridge, the chip is built on Intel ' s 22FFL process, a varient on Intel's 22nm chip-making process, and uses radiofrequency (RF) capabilities to control 128 qubits with a single device.

According to Intel, the development of Horse Ridge chip focused on three key areas: scalability, flexibility and fidelity. It is a mixed-signal chip with a 4mm x 4mm die size. The chip uses "smaller, custom-designed systems surrounded by complex control and interconnect mechanisms" to minimise the limitation of working with just a small number of qubits.

Intel claims that its integrated System-on-a-Chip (SoC) design can integrate four RF channels into a single device by using Intel's 22nm FFL CMOS technology. Each RF channel can control a maximum of 32 qubits to leverage "frequency multiplexing".

The primary goal of the chip design is to help demonstrate quantum practicality by solving complex, real-world problems with quantum computers. Researchers also believe that Horse Ridge could help simplify the complex control electronics required to create a quantum system. They expect it to lead to smaller and more efficient quantum computers by enabling one chip to manage more tasks without requiring many cables and other instruments.

The researchers also expect Horse Ridge to demonstrate faster, higher-fidelity qubits. The chip has optimised multiplexing, Intel says, which enables it to reduce the 'crosstalk errors' that occur when a chip handles a large number of qubits at different frequencies.

The chip is designed to handle a wide frequency range, including smaller spin qubits at 13GHz to 20GHz, and superconducting qubits at around 6GHz to 7GHz.

The details of the Horse Ridge chip were provided in a research paper released this week by Intel Labs and QuTech at the 2020 International Solid-State Circuits Conference in San Francisco, California.