A research team at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering has developed a new quantum device fabrication method based on low-energy ion beam etching (IBE). The achievement was published in the journal Applied Physics Letters. This technology provides a new pathway for exploring a wider range of superconducting material systems and is expected to promote improvements in quantum computing hardware performance.
The team, led by Professor Davood Shahrjerdi, successfully fabricated niobium-based superconducting resonators using physical patterning techniques instead of traditional chemical methods. The quantum devices exhibited low energy loss when tested in an environment close to absolute zero, with performance comparable to devices manufactured using existing chemical methods. The study addresses the long-standing challenge of fabricating functional quantum devices from transition metal nitrides, carbides, and other materials that are difficult to process using chemical methods.
The researchers completed the device fabrication in the NYU Nanofabrication Cleanroom, which is equipped with advanced quantum materials processing equipment. PhD students Miguel Manzo-Perez and Moeid Jamalzadeh jointly developed the fabrication process combining electron beam lithography with IBE technology. Dr. Matthew LaHaye, a collaborator from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, said: "This material-agnostic fabrication technique will expand the design space for quantum hardware and help advance quantum information systems toward larger scales."
The development of quantum computing requires high-performance hardware capable of maintaining quantum states for extended periods. Low-loss superconducting devices are key components for building quantum computers, and their quality directly affects computational accuracy and fault tolerance. The IBE fabrication process demonstrated in this study provides an effective means for evaluating new superconducting materials and is expected to accelerate the transition of quantum technology from the laboratory to industrialization.
