In a Microsoft laboratory, with the participation of specialists from the University of Sydney, for the first time, they created a chip of 100 thousand transistors on a mixed digital and analog base, which can operate at temperatures near absolute zero. More precisely, the controller remains operational and controls the qubits at a temperature of 0.1 K (–273.05 ° C). The previous record was set by Intel with the 22nm Horse Ridge II controller, which remains operational when cooled down to 4K (–269.15 ° C).

It may appear that the difference is small, but for the stability of the state of cryogenic qubits and to maintain coherence, the Intel controller is still not cold enough to be in the same container with cryogenic qubits. In this regard, Microsoft’s development has much better prospects. It promises to significantly simplify the physical dimensions and configuration of cryogenic qubit computers because from the controller to the qubits there is no need to pull the conductors outside the container – everything will be inside.

Modern [quantum] machines create a beautiful set of wires to control signals; they look like an inverted gilded bird’s nest or chandelier, explains quantum physicist David Reilly of the University of Sydney. “ They are beautiful but fundamentally impractical. This means that we cannot scale machines to perform useful computations. There is a real I / O bottleneck. “

The Gooseberry controller promises to eliminate this bottleneck. According to the developers, with its help, it will be possible to create a system that controls a thousand qubits, whereas today cryogenic systems with a maximum of 50 qubits have been created.