Representing a milestone in quantum technology, researchers from Boston University, UC Berkeley, and Northwestern University have developed a chip that combines electronic, photonic, and quantum components into a single platform.
The researchers found that quantum light sources can be stabilized and controlled directly on silicon using the same semiconductor processes that power modern computing.
The hybrid device was fabricated using a standard 45-nanometer CMOS foundry process, demonstrating that quantum systems can be produced within the same industrial ecosystem as everyday electronics.
The team equipped the chip with “microring resonators”, which are tiny photonic devices that generate correlated photon pairs through a process known as spontaneous four-wave mixing. These correlated photons are a vital quantum resource for secure communication, sensing, and eventually, computing applications.
The work builds on years of collaboration with GlobalFoundries and Ayar Labs, which supported fabrication. The same CMOS platform is already being used for optical interconnect chiplets in AI and supercomputing.
