Conference: Mid-scale RI-EW: Workshop on Building a Nanofabrication Facility for Quantum Science and Engineering

Advances in quantum science and engineering promise to fundamentally revolutionize broad aspects of our society, including computing, communications, sensing and measurement science. The technologies and systems that underpin future quantum discovery, as well as device engineering and translation of these technologies to industry, will require new materials, devices, fabrication, and integration techniques.

Critical to meeting these challenges will be a dedicated, accessible, and specialized nanofabrication facility. This award will support a workshop to bring together a broad range of experts from academia, industry, national labs, and government to discuss and develop the requirements, construction, and operation of a fabrication and metrology facility uniquely dedicated to quantum science and engineering.

Topics to be covered and discussed will include: (1) the underlying scientific motivation and basic research need for quantum nanofabrication; (2) the role and needs of the growing quantum industry with emphasis on fabrication that enables integration, packaging, and manufacturability; and (3) the development of a project execution plan, which would provide guidance for implementation and operation of such a nanofabrication facility. A significant outcome of the workshop will be clear description and consensus on the national needs for a nanofabrication facility to ensure United States leadership in quantum science and engineering.

Significant, focused investment has led to many breakthroughs in quantum science and engineering, but beyond laboratory experiments there is a pressing need for new fabrication techniques and facilities to address the many unknowns related to building quantum hardware. This hardware is expected to involve the heterogenous integration of a wide range of material platforms (photonics, semiconductors, superconducting electronics, nano-mechanical systems, and cold atoms) in new and challenging environments (≤1K, ≤10-9 Torr).

To create future quantum devices and hardware at scale (e.g. ultimately millions of qubits in a quantum processor) will require new approaches, tools and techniques for nanofabrication that will move beyond the re-tooling of existing infrastructure. The proposed workshop will seek to identify the need and requirements for such a quantum nanofabrication facility and address the capabilities, the implementation, and operation of such a facility.

Critical to the success of this workshop will be the involvement of the nascent quantum industry in this process of integrating and translating new technology into systems that are just now being discovered. Equally critical will be the involvement of individuals with experience in project management and execution as well as those with facility management to guide the execution of a future project.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.