Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Peter Krogstrup Jeppesen

Roman Mykolayovych Lutchyn

Michael Hartley Freedman

Georg Wolfgang Winkler

Chetan Vasudeo Nayak

Torsten Karzig

Charles Masamed Marcus

Leonardus Petrus Kouwenhoven

Dmitry Igorevich Pikulin

Kevin Van Hoogdalem

Yu Liu

Alessandra Luchini

Bernard Van Heck

Parsa Hassan Bonderson

Geoffrey Charles Gardner

Raymond Leonard Kallaher

Michael James Manfra

Sergei Vyatcheslavovich Gronin

Pavel Aseev

Andrey Antipov

Saulius Vaitiekėnas

Saulius Vaitiekenas

Tomas Stankevic

Various fabrication methods are disclosed. In one such method, at least one structure is formed on a substrate which protrudes outwardly from a plane of the substrate. A beam is used to form a layer of material, at least part of which is in direct contact with a semiconductor structure on the substrate, the semiconductor structure comprising at least one nanowire. The beam has a non-zero angle of incidence relative to the normal of the plane of the substrate such that the beam is incident on one side of the protruding structure, thereby preventing a portion of the nanowire in a shadow region adjacent the other side of the protruding structure in the plane of the substrate from being covered with the material.

Fabrication methods

A mixed semiconductor-superconductor platform is fabricated in phases. In a masking phase, a dielectric mask is formed on a substrate, such that the dielectric mask leaves one or more regions of the substrate exposed. In a selective area growth phase, a semiconductor material is selectively grown on the substrate in the one or more exposed regions. In a superconductor growth phase, a layer of superconducting material is formed, at least part of which is in direct contact with the selectively grown semiconductor material. The mixed semiconductor-superconductor platform comprises the selectively grown semiconductor material and the superconducting material in direct contact with the selectively grown semiconductor material.

Superconductor-semiconductor fabrication

A quantum device is fabricated by forming a network of nanowires oriented in a plane of a substrate to produce a Majorana-based topological qubit. The nanowires are formed from combinations of selective-area-grown semiconductor material along with regions of a superconducting material. The selective-area-grown semiconductor material is grown by etching trenches to define the nanowires and depositing the semiconductor material in the trenches. A side gate is formed in an etched trench and situated to control a topological segment of the qubit.

Side-gating in selective-area-grown topological qubits

A method of fabrication in a vacuum chamber. The method comprises: deploying the wafer within the vacuum chamber; applying a mask in a first position over the wafer in the vacuum chamber; following this, performing a first fabrication step comprising projecting material onto the wafer through the mask while in vacuum in the vacuum chamber; then operating a mask-handling mechanism deployed within the vacuum chamber in order to reposition the mask to a second position while remaining in vacuum in the vacuum chamber, wherein the repositioning comprises receiving readings from one or more sensors sensing a current position of the mask and based thereon aligning the current position of the mask to the second position; and following this repositioning, performing a second fabrication step comprising projecting material onto the wafer through patterned openings in the repositioned mask while still maintaining the vacuum in the vacuum chamber.

Fabrication process using vapour deposition through a positioned shadow mask

A first aspect provides a topological quantum computing device comprising a network of semiconductor-superconductor nanowires, each nanowire comprising a length of semiconductor formed over a substrate and a coating of superconductor formed over at least part of the semiconductor; wherein at least some of the nanowires further comprise a coating of ferromagnetic insulator disposed over at least part of the semiconductor. A second aspect provides a method of fabricating a quantum or spintronic device comprising a heterostructure of semiconductor and ferromagnetic insulator, by: forming a portion of the semiconductor over a substrate in a first vacuum chamber, and growing a coating of the ferromagnetic insulator on the semiconductor by epitaxy in a second vacuum chamber connected to the first vacuum chamber by a vacuum tunnel, wherein the semiconductor comprises InAs and the ferromagnetic insulator comprises EuS.

Semiconductor and ferromagnetic insulator heterostructure

Various fabrication method are disclosed. In one such method, at least one structure is formed on a substrate which protrudes outwardly from a plane of the substrate. A beam is used to form a layer of material, at least part of which is in direct contact with a semiconductor structure on the substrate, the semiconductor structure comprising at least one nanowire. The beam has a non-zero angle of incidence relative to the normal of the plane of the substrate such that the beam is incident on one side of the protruding structure, thereby preventing a portion of the nanowire in a shadow region adjacent the other side of the protruding structure in the plane of the substrate from being covered with the material.

A device comprising: a portion of semiconductor; a portion of superconductor arranged to a enable a topological phase having a topological gap to be induced in a region of the semiconductor by proximity effect; and a portion of a non-magnetic material comprising an element with atomic number Z greater than or equal to 26, arranged to increase the topological gap in the topological region of the semiconductor.

Semiconductor-superconductor heterostructure

The disclosure relates to a quantum device and method of fabricating the same. The device comprises one or more semiconductor-superconductor nanowires, each comprising a length of semiconductor material and a coating of superconductor material coated on the semiconductor material. The nanowires may be formed over a substrate. In a first aspect at least some of the nanowires are full-shell nanowires with superconductor material being coated around a full perimeter of the semiconductor material along some or all of the length of the wire, wherein the device is operable to induce at least one Majorana zero mode, MZM, in one or more active ones of the full-shell nanowires. In a second aspect at least some of the nanowires are arranged vertically relative to the plane of the substrate in the finished device.

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Copenhagen, Denmark

Peter Krogstrup Jeppesen