Scientists have developed a method to obtain ultrapure silicon used in chips. Using standard equipment, they were able to reduce silicon-29 impurities in the chips to 0.0002%. According to New Atlas, this method will make it possible to create more powerful quantum computers containing a large number of qubits.

Silicon is rightfully considered one of the fundamental materials underlying modern electronic devices and computer technologies. His importance is so great that even the famous Silicon Valley in California, where many IT giants were born, is named after him. However, silicon also has some disadvantages that limit its use in promising fields such as quantum computing.

Researchers from the Universities of Melbourne and Manchester have developed a method to obtain ultrapure silicon using standard equipment (ion implanter). With this setup, which is widely used in the semiconductor industry, a computer chip is “irradiated” with silicon-28, replacing silicon-29 impurities with the more desirable silicon-28 in the process and increasing the concentration as a result. The percentage of silicon-29 in the chip dropped from 4.5% to 0.0002%.

Why is the purity of silicon important for quantum computers? The truth is that quantum computers are based on qubits, which are quantum bits that use the principles of quantum mechanics. They are extremely sensitive to any external influence and must be in a state of quantum coherence.

However, natural silicon contains about 4.5% of the isotope silicon-29, which has an extra neutron. These neutrons act like microscopic magnets, disrupting the coherence of qubits and causing errors in quantum computing. Therefore, the use of native silicon significantly limits the capabilities of quantum computers, and their full operation requires much purer silicon with a minimum silicon-29 isotope content.

High-purity silicon can greatly increase the capabilities of quantum computers because the more qubits a quantum chip contains, the more powerful it is. In this case, the ultrapure silicon obtained by scientists will help stabilize the operation of such multi-qubit systems. It is planned to test the ultrapure silicon structures developed in the future in real quantum devices. And successful results could lead to the emergence of a new generation of quantum computers.