Creates to receive $1.25 million as part of the national MARQUIS initiative uniting leading research institutions and industry partners
Albany, NY — NY Creates today announced its participation in the newly funded Manufacturable and Resilient superconducting QUantum Information Systems (MARQUIS) Quantum Leap Challenge Institute (QLCI), a major National Science Foundation initiative led by Princeton University that aims to overcome one of the most significant barriers to practical quantum computing.
Through the five-year effort, the New York Center for Research, Economic Advancement, Technology, Engineering, and Science (NY Creates) will receive approximately $1.25 million in funding over five years to support research, technology scaling, and related workforce development activities critical to advancing quantum computing technologies. MARQUIS is one of NSF’s Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes and is receiving $27.9 million in NSF funding over five years, according to the agency.
The U.S. National Science Foundation announced that Princeton University will lead the MARQUIS Quantum Leap Challenge Institute, a major effort to accelerate the development of quantum computing. The institute will devise techniques for fabricating hardware and develop education and workforce training programs that deepen U.S. leadership in quantum science and engineering. Bringing together experts from two dozen laboratories across nine research institutions in the areas of materials science, quantum devices, and semiconductor processing, the institute will focus on addressing the fundamental challenges around manufacturing core components for quantum processors.
“This award reflects the growing importance of integrating world-class semiconductor manufacturing expertise with leading-edge quantum research,” said Dave Anderson, President & CEO of NY Creates. “As a partner in this exceptional consortium of leading universities, industry partners, and research institutions, Creates will help advance technologies that are critical to the future of quantum computing and America’s scientific and economic competitiveness. The MARQUIS initiative also reinforces New York’s leadership in semiconductor innovation while creating valuable opportunities to educate and train the next generation of scientists, engineers, and technologists who will drive quantum-based economic growth.”
“Creates is uniquely positioned to help bridge the gap between breakthrough quantum research and scalable manufacturing,” said Dr. Satyavolu Papa Rao, Senior Director of Emerging Technologies and Research at NY Creates. “Through our advanced 300mm semiconductor R&D infrastructure and deep industry partnerships, we will work alongside MARQUIS collaborators to evaluate, translate, and scale promising quantum materials and processes, helping to accelerate the development of manufacturable quantum technologies while strengthening the nation’s quantum workforce and semiconductor innovation ecosystem.”
“The whole community has been using essentially the same materials technology for about a quarter century,” said Nathalie de Leon, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Princeton University and director of the new institute. “That technology has worked well for experimental prototypes and small-scale systems. But to build quantum computers at a scientifically useful scale, the most basic elements must be reinvented. Having a few key experts in the field who know what the right waypoints are and how to think about it is really crucial.”
As part of MARQUIS, the Creates team, led by Papa Rao, will work with institute partners to test innovative materials and processes at the 300mm wafer scale targeted at mid-scale superconducting quantum processors. Qubits are the basic units of quantum computing, and superconducting qubits utilize circuits that include Josephson junctions to perform certain calculations that are beyond the reach of traditional computers.
The Creates team will collaborate with MARQUIS researchers to identify critical data and process insights that could improve the scalability of materials and fabrication approaches for quantum devices within industry-standard CMOS-compatible manufacturing environments. These efforts are intended to help ensure that promising innovations can ultimately be translated into large-scale manufacturing processes, supporting production of future quantum computing systems.
To address critical, related workforce development needs, Creates will work with MARQUIS partners to expand opportunities for students and postdoctoral researchers to gain hands-on experience with advanced semiconductor manufacturing environments through periodic site visits and collaborative learning experiences. Creates will also support institute efforts to develop databases of materials, processes, and device structures that can help researchers better understand the factors influencing quantum device performance, decoherence, and process variability.
The Princeton-led MARQUIS institute brings together researchers from Princeton University, Cornell University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California at Santa Barbara, Stanford University, Dartmouth College, Creates, Michigan State University, and the University of Iowa. The initiative is further supported by an advisory board that includes representatives from Google Quantum AI, NVIDIA, Applied Materials, Oxford Instruments, Bluefors, KU Leuven/imec, and MIT Lincoln Laboratory.