Imec and Diraq, a company specializing in silicon-based quantum computing, have demonstrated that industrially manufactured silicon quantum dot qubits can consistently achieve error rates that surpass the threshold needed for quantum error correction (QEC). The results, which are reported in Nature, show that Diraq’s qubits can be manufactured reliably using standard silicon microchip fabrication methods.
The collaboration leveraged imec’s 300mm silicon CMOS manufacturing platform to produce Diraq-designed devices, which were shown to consistently achieve over 99% fidelity in two-qubit gate operations. Fidelities above 99.9% were also achieved for state preparation and measurement (SPAM) operations. To suppress magnetic noise from residual nuclear spins in the substrate, the quantum dot structures were fabricated on an isotopically enriched 28 Si layer. The researchers measured a set of randomly selected devices, obtaining reproducible data.
This achievement is positioned as a step in Diraq’s roadmap toward utility scale, making QEC of industrially fabricated quantum dot qubit devices a realistic prospect. Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, noted that this collaboration demonstrates that silicon-based quantum computers can be built by leveraging the mature semiconductor industry, which opens a cost-effective pathway to chips containing millions of qubits.
Read the full announcement here and the paper in Nature here.
September 24, 2025
