Quantum computers based on nitrogen vacancies (so-called NV centres) in diamond have great potential. One major challenge, however, is the still inadequate control over the diamond surface. Etched or polished surfaces in particular have defects that can severely disturb the qubits. In close cooperation with contractors from the Quantumcomputing Initiative (QC-I) at the DLR Innovation Centre Ulm, we want to develop novel etching, termination and coating processes for diamond surfaces in the project StarQ (Surface treatment at atomic resolution for Quantum computing). Our aim is to treat the surfaces in such a way that the properties of the qubits are improved. In this way, we want to contribute to bringing this quantum computer technology further to application maturity, so that even more powerful quantum computers can be built. An integral part of this is the close cooperation with the companies Advanced Quantum, Diatope and XeedQ in the existing quantum computer ecosystem at the DLR Innovation Centre Ulm.
Project goals
Concrete goals until 2026 are
development and provision of processes for surface processing to improve the coherence time of near-surface NV centres in diamond
provision of processes for the surface treatment of diamond, incl. setting up and upgrading the process technology in the clean room of the Ulm Innovation Centre
technology and knowledge transfer with the companies in the Ulm Innovation Centre
development of an application model of near-surface NV centres with high coherence time
Contact
Dr. Jakob Buchheim
Head of Department Integration of Micro- and Nanosystems
