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Giordano Scappucci

Publications and source records attributed to Giordano Scappucci.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Control-Noise Trade-offs in Industrially Integrated ${}^{28}\mathrm{Si}/\mathrm{SiGe}$ Spin-1/2 Qubits

Scaling silicon spin qubits to fault-tolerant processors requires semiconductor foundry integration, yet it remains unclear how industrial fabrication and dense device integration affect qubit control and noise. Here we study ${}^{28}\mathrm{Si}/\mathrm{SiGe}$ electron spin-1/2 qubits fabricated using Intel's industry-compatible 300 mm process and incorporating micromagnets for electrically driven spin resonance, using a high-performance device fabricated in the RIKEN research cleanroom as a reference. Primitive $π/2$-gate fidelities reach the 99.99% level in the Intel devices, which also exhibit longer idle coherence, weaker low-frequency correlations and reduced qubit-to-qubit variability across several measured characteristics. In the present Intel devices, the micromagnets are integrated inline with the back-end-of-line (BEOL) contact routing, with their separation from the quantum well set through the vertical stack design. Relative to the reference, their larger separation contributes to weaker longitudinal and transverse magnetic-field gradients. The weaker longitudinal gradient suppresses the conversion of charge noise into qubit-frequency fluctuations, whereas the weaker transverse gradient reduces electrically driven spin-resonance efficiency and makes drive-dependent errors relevant at lower Rabi frequencies. Additional BEOL routing and metal levels required for two-dimensional arrays make such placement decisions increasingly consequential when scaling. These results establish an integration-level control-noise trade-off linking micromagnet placement within densely routed layouts to achievable gate performance, while very high-fidelity operation remains possible in industrially fabricated devices.

quant-ph↗

Sparse qubit operation in a 6$\times$6 quantum dot array

Fault-tolerant quantum computation requires increasing the qubit count while maintaining high performance and connectivity. Semiconductor qubits have demonstrated high-fidelity operation, but growing the system size at sufficient connectivity remains challenging, such that scaling mainly occurred in one spatial direction to preserve access for control lines in the other. Here, we realise an approach that relaxes the requirements on fabrication and demonstrate a 6$\times$6 quantum dot array, defined by a shared barrier gate and individual plunger gates. The quantum dots are tuned through coherent spin shuttling over distances up to 5.2um into a sparse configuration of 10 simultaneously operated qubits, leaving space for shuttling connections. We reduce crosstalk by 42$\times$ in this separated regime, enabling high-fidelity simultaneous single-qubit control, while control-Z operations can be implemented through shuttling and plunger-only control. These results promise high-connectivity quantum circuits, enabled by scaling to two-dimensional geometries and exploiting shuttling.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Superconducting edge contact to a buried Ge quantum well

Semiconductor-superconductor hybrid systems form the basis for a broad range of quantum phenomena, such as Andreev bound states, topological superconductivity, and hybrid quantum Hall states. The performance of these hybrid systems can strongly benefit from the exceptional electronic properties of heterostructures with deeply buried quantum wells. However, establishing high-quality superconducting contacts to such quantum wells remains challenging. Here, we address this problem with an edge-contact approach that combines anisotropic dry etching to access the quantum well followed by wet etching for interface preparation. Josephson junctions fabricated using this approach consistently exhibit near-unity interface transparency, while quantum point contacts show strong Andreev enhancement, with the first conductance plateau approaching $4e^2/h$, the limit of perfect Andreev reflection. In superconducting quantum point contacts, the high contact quality is further manifested by quantized supercurrent. These results establish the combination of dry and wet etching as a robust strategy for integrating deeply buried quantum wells into superconducting hybrid devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Solid-state reaction synthesis of superconducting refractory-metal germanides for Ge/SiGe quantum devices

Solid-phase reactions offer a route to integrate superconductors into Ge/SiGe heterostructures, but forming high-quality superconducting layers near the buried Ge quantum well remains challenging. We investigate reactions of V, Ta, and Nb with elemental Ge and with the Si$_{0.2}$Ge$_{0.8}$ barrier of Ge/SiGe heterostructures at processing temperatures of 365-390 $^\circ$C. Cross-sectional electron microscopy and low-temperature electrical transport show that deposition on Ge at 390 $^\circ$C, in which approximately 2 nm metal increments are separated by growth stops for in-situ annealing, produces reactions throughout the deposited films and superconducting transitions at approximately 0.14 K for V-Ge, 2.1 K for Ta-Ge, and 2.8 K for Nb-Ge. The Nb-Ge layer has an out-of-plane critical field of approximately 0.8 T at 2.1 K. In the heterostructure samples, intermixing is confined to regions approximately 5-12 nm thick near the metal-SiGe interface, leaving a substantial residual metal layer. Microscopy and transport together suggest that this residual film dominates the measured superconducting response. These results establish low-temperature formation of superconducting refractory-metal-Ge layers while identifying the limited interfacial reaction as the principal obstacle to extending this approach toward the buried quantum well.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

Probing Residual Noise at a Decoherence Sweet Spot in a $^{28}$Si/SiGe Spin Qubit

In $^{28}$Si/SiGe spin qubits with micromagnets, the longitudinal stray field gradient transduces charge noise into qubit frequency noise and limits coherence. We compare two neighboring qubits in the same device with 800 ppm residual $^{29}$Si, one near a decoherence sweet spot where the gradient is locally minimized and the other at a position with a larger gradient. At the sweet spot, $T_2^*$ reaches 67 $μ\mathrm{s}$ and the Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill coherence time reaches 4.6 ms, whereas $T_2^*$ is 5.2 $μ\mathrm{s}$ at the neighboring qubit. Near 1 Hz, the frequency noise power spectral density at the sweet spot is nearly two orders of magnitude lower than at the neighboring qubit. The magnitude and low-frequency decay of the residual spectrum are compatible with the prediction for $^{29}$Si nuclear spin noise, and the weak interqubit correlation indicates that local noise becomes important for dephasing at the sweet spot. Despite a finite correlation with the charge sensor, sweet-spot operation strongly reduced the transduction of charge noise, bringing the residual frequency noise close to the level predicted for $^{29}$Si nuclear spin fluctuations.

quant-ph↗

Spectroscopy With Intelligent Feature Tracking for automated characterization of excited-state structure in semiconductor quantum dot devices

The characterization of excited-state structure in semiconductor quantum dot (QD) devices is an important component of tuning them for spin-qubit operation. We present Spectroscopy With Intelligent Feature Tracking (SWIFT), a framework that combines machine-learning (ML)-assisted feature identification with physics-informed geometric processing to extract energy-level splittings from pulsed-gate spectroscopy data. SWIFT isolates the relevant spectral features and exploits their characteristic geometry to reduce the two-dimensional spectroscopy analysis to a one-dimensional peak-detection problem. It further combines an ensemble-based confidence metric with sequential accumulation of rapid, low-SNR scans, allowing the inferred spectrum to be reevaluated as experimental evidence accumulates. Using Si/SiGe QD devices, we demonstrate SWIFT both offline and in real time, including automated tracking of QD excited states and lead resonances. Benchmarking on 255 manually labeled scans shows that SWIFT reduces the median splitting error to 0.05 mV from 0.11 mV for a classical baseline, with the largest improvement on lower-quality measurements. These results provide a path toward incorporating excited-state spectroscopy into autonomous QD characterization, tuning, and optimization, which will be essential in large-scale quantum dot devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Light-Hole Spin Qubits in Strained SiGe Lattice-Matched to Ge

Strained germanium ($\varepsilon$-Ge) quantum wells on metamorphic SiGe buffers have enabled advanced hole-based spin qubit devices. Alternatively, unstrained Ge with lattice-matched strained silicon-germanium ($\varepsilon$-SiGe) barriers eliminates the need for metamorphic buffers altogether. The ground state character of both these platforms is predominantly heavy-hole (HH) with a largely anisotropic spin response. We propose and study an alternative heterostructure, lattice-matched to Ge, in which both the SiGe quantum well and barriers are tensile strained, with their composition contrast providing the band offset for confinement and the tensile strain stabilizing a light-hole (LH) ground state. We show large spin-orbit coupling (SOC), both linear and cubic, along with a significantly more isotropic spin response compared to strained HH qubits. We also study the decoherence properties of the proposed device, showing an appreciable gain in the quality factor compared to their HH counterparts. Finally, we propose a bilayer heterostructure that allows for electrical switching between HH and LH ground state character.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Observation of magnetic quantum phase crossovers in a semiconductor spin ladder

Understanding collective phases of strongly correlated quantum magnets relies on theoretically tractable model systems with precise microscopic control. Antiferromagnetic spin ladders provide such a setting, hosting field-tunable gapped and gapless phases at half filling and unconventional pairing tendencies upon doping. Here, we realize a programmable Heisenberg spin ladder in a half-filled germanium quantum dot array featuring site-resolved, continuously tunable exchange interactions. Under a fixed magnetic field, we vary the rung and leg coupling to map the rung-singlet, canted antiferromagnetic, and fully polarized phases. Hamiltonian-learning protocols combining equilibrium and dynamical measurements quantitatively characterize the ladder, incorporating spin-orbit interactions to reproduce the observed crossover behavior. Measurements of higher-order spin correlators -- including four-point correlations inaccessible to conventional bulk probes -- reveal signatures of the underlying phase structure despite the finite size. Our results establish germanium quantum dot arrays as a controllable platform for quantum magnetism, opening routes to investigate unconventional superconductivity in doped ladders.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Assessing fidelity-limiting factors and achieving single-qubit gate fidelity beyond 99.999% in driven silicon spin qubits

In semiconductor single-spin qubits, high-fidelity quantum gates have been demonstrated; however, achieving consistent performance remains challenging due to variations in driven qubit coherence, which is less explored than free-evolution coherence such as $T_2^*$. Here, we report single-qubit gate fidelities above 99.999%, achieved by dramatically extending the driven-spin coherence time and suppressing off-resonant driving effects that are detrimental to accurate fidelity benchmarking. We demonstrate that removing proximal reservoirs significantly enhances the spin-locking coherence time ($T_{1ρ}$), a critical metric for qubits under microwave driving. Furthermore, we reveal that in typical spin qubit setups using parity readout and rectangular pulses, off-resonant excitation of neighboring qubits causes substantial benchmarking artifacts. By optimizing device conditions to mitigate microwave-induced degradation and implementing spectrally tailored pulse shaping, we achieve a $π/2$ gate fidelity of 99.99920(2)%, with remaining errors primarily limited by incoherent noise. These results showcase the mechanisms that bound fidelity benchmarking in state-of-the-art silicon spin qubits and provide practical guidelines for achieving and verifying high fidelities in these systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Buried germanium quantum well proximitised by magnetic field-resilient superconducting platinum iridium germanosilicide

Hybrid superconductor-semiconductor systems provide a versatile platform for quantum technologies, ranging from superconducting-spin interfaces to topological quantum devices. Progress toward scalable implementations requires superconductors that exhibit high critical fields ($>1$T) at accessible temperatures integrated with low-disorder semiconductor heterostructures. Here we demonstrate a superconducting platinum iridium germanosilicide (PtIrSiGe), with critical out-of-plane magnetic field up to $B_{\perp} = 1.9$T and critical temperature of $T_c\sim 1.85$K, integrated with planar germanium with mobility $μ= 1.3\times 10^6$cm$^{2}$/Vs via top-down lithography fabrication. We show that the integrity of the germanium quantum well and mobility and density of the 2D hole gas are preserved despite annealing at $500°$C, a temperature comparable to that used for strained germanium epitaxy. We further demonstrate proximitisation of a buried germanium quantum well in a gate-defined Josephson junction/SQUID on a Ge/SiGe heterostructure.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Controllable interaction between photons and distant spins via vacuum Rabi oscillations

Vacuum Rabi oscillations between a single photon and a single spin demonstrate the capability of harnessing light-matter interaction at the level of a single quantum of energy. Since the observation of strong spin-photon coupling in gate-defined quantum dots, probing this interaction in the time-domain has been a major objective. Here, we carefully engineer a device composed of two spatially separated double quantum dots hosting single electron spin qubits and a superconducting cavity to accommodate microwave photons. We observe multiple vacuum Rabi oscillations between each spin qubit and the cavity. By concatenating vacuum Rabi oscillations involving the two spins, an energy excitation in one qubit can be emitted as a photon and then transferred to the other qubit. When a single photon is emitted, the cavity is prepared in a Fock state, leading to an accelerated vacuum Rabi frequency. These results serve as building blocks not only in exploring light-matter interactions, but also in interfacing semiconductor spin qubits to photonic links.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Feedback stabilization of multi-qubit Hamiltonian parameters enabled by single-shot measurement-based sequential Monte Carlo

Fast measurement, signal processing, and accurate estimation of Hamiltonian parameters are essential for feedback control in quantum-classical interface circuitry. However, existing frequentist and Bayesian inference methods typically require a large number of measurements to achieve the accuracy needed to mitigate qubit decoherence. Consequently, feedback control of semiconductor qubits has largely been limited to single-qubit frequency stabilization, whereas two-qubit parameter stabilization remains experimentally unexplored. Here, we demonstrate a real-time feedback framework based on sequential Monte Carlo estimation using one bit of data from a single-shot measurement. Using a four-qubit semiconductor quantum dot device, we rapidly estimate individual qubit frequencies, yielding an approximately twofold increase in coherence time compared with a conventional Bayesian strategy. Moreover, sequential two-qubit parameter estimation using two bits of data enables stabilization of qubit-qubit coupling, allowing both quasi-static frequency drift and exchange-interaction noise to be estimated and suppressed. By shortening the time required for precise parameter estimation, these results demonstrate the importance of the synergistic development of classical and quantum electronics for building robust and scalable quantum technologies in fluctuating environments.

quant-ph↗

A Degenerate Singlet-Triplet Qubit with All-Electrical Orthogonal Control

Singlet-triplet qubits offer an attractive encoding for semiconductor quantum computing, combining ancilla-free readout, reduced sensitivity to common-mode noise, and baseband voltage control. However, the Zeeman energy difference $ΔE_\mathrm{Z}$ is typically fixed by local magnetic field gradients or $g$-factor inhomogeneities, leaving the exchange interaction $J$ as the only dynamically tunable parameter. This always-on $ΔE_\mathrm{Z}$ precludes orthogonal control of the qubit's rotation axes and introduces unwanted state rotations during idling. Here we demonstrate all-electrical orthogonal control of a degenerate singlet-triplet (DST) qubit formed by two hole spins in a germanium double quantum dot. Exploiting the electrically tunable anisotropic $g$-factors of the two spins, we identify a regime where both $ΔE_\mathrm{Z}$ and $J$ vanish, making the $S$ and $T_0$ states degenerate at the idle point. By applying only baseband voltage pulses, we independently control both $J$ and $ΔE_\mathrm{Z}$, enabling fully orthogonal $Z$- and $X$-axis rotations. Randomized benchmarking yields an average physical single-qubit gate fidelity of 99.53\% for a gate duration of approximately 100 ns. Finally, we electrically tune the degenerate point across a wide range of magnetic field orientations, enabling operation in a regime of enhanced coherence time and offering a route towards multi-qubit scaling under a shared global magnetic field.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Mapping g-factors and complex intervalley coupling in Si/SiGe by conveyor-mode shuttling

As silicon spin qubit chips are increasing in qubit number and area, methods for the screening of qubit related material parameters become vital. Here we demonstrate the two-dimensional mapping of small variations of the electron g-factor of quantum dots formed in planar Si/SiGe quantum wells with precision better than $10^{-3}$ and with nanometer lateral resolution. We scan the electron g-factor across a 40 nm $\times$ 400 nm area and observe two g-factors per QD site which obey a striking symmetry and bimodal distribution across the area. These two g-factors relate to valley states of the electron in the quantum dot in agreement with a recent theoretical model. Using conveyor-belt shuttling of entangled electron spin pairs, complementary to the mapping of the local valley-splitting, we map the g-factor. We compare g-factor and valley splitting maps measured on the same device, and extract the complex intervalley coupling parameter along the shuttle trajectories applying a theoretical model of g-factor dependence on intervalley coupling. These maps will allow unprecedented insights into the spin-valley dynamics during qubit manipulation, readout and shuttling and serve as a benchmark for the engineering of Si/SiGe heterostructures for large-scale quantum chips.

quant-ph↗

Passive and active suppression of transduced noise in silicon spin qubits

Addressing and mitigating decoherence sources plays an essential role in the development of a scalable quantum computing system, which requires low gate errors to be consistently maintained throughout the circuit execution. While nuclear spin-free materials, such as isotopically purified silicon, exhibit intrinsically promising coherence properties for electron spin qubits, the omnipresent charge noise, when converted to magnetic noise under a strong magnetic field gradient, often hinders stable qubit operation within a time frame comparable to the data acquisition time. Here, we demonstrate both open- and closed-loop suppression techniques for the transduced noise in silicon spin qubits, resulting in a more than two-fold (ten-fold) improvement of the inhomogeneous coherence time (Rabi oscillation quality) that leads to a single-qubit gate fidelity of over 99.6% even in the presence of a strong decoherence field gradient. Utilizing gate set tomography, we show that adaptive qubit control also reduces the non-Markovian noise in the system, which validates the stability of the gate fidelity. The technique can be used to learn multiple Hamiltonian parameters and is useful for the intermittent calibration of the circuit parameters with affordable experimental overhead, providing a useful subroutine during the repeated execution of general quantum circuits.

quant-ph↗

Simultaneous High-Fidelity Single-Qubit Gates in a Spin Qubit Array

Silicon spin qubits offer a promising path to scalable quantum computing due to their compatibility with industrial semiconductor manufacturing and recent advances in multi-qubit integration. A key requirement for scaling quantum processors is the ability to perform high-fidelity operations in parallel across many qubits. In silicon spin systems, however, simultaneous control remains a major challenge, as fidelities typically degrade under parallel operation. In a five-qubit silicon spin array, we identify microwave-drive-induced AC Stark shifts as the dominant source of this degradation. We address this by introducing a scalable mitigation protocol based solely on pairwise phase calibrations. Using tailored control pulses on a shared control line, we achieve primitive $π/2$ gate fidelities well above 99.99% for each qubit individually, with some approaching 99.999%, surpassing previously reported fidelities in silicon spin qubits. Crucially, these fidelities are preserved above 99.99% during simultaneous operation of up to three qubits. During parallel five-qubit operation, fidelities remain at the practical fault-tolerant threshold of 99.9%, with the loss attributed to drive-induced decoherence resulting from increased microwave power. This effect can be mitigated through device-level improvements. By demonstrating that high-fidelity control is maintained during simultaneous operation, we overcome a central challenge in silicon spin qubits and highlight the potential of shared qubit-control lines for scaling.

quant-ph↗

Confinement drives valley splitting above 4K in buried silicon quantum wells

Controlling the energy scales of a quantum system is essential for defining robust qubits. In silicon spin qubits, the nearly degenerate conduction-band valleys create a leakage channel from the single-spin computational basis, posing a challenge to scaling and to shuttling-based architectures. Here, we measure the relevant energy scales of single-electron spin qubits in buried silicon quantum wells co-designed for low disorder and high valley splitting. Across a linear array of four quantum dots with an average orbital energy of 2.4(2) meV, we report an average single-electron valley splitting of 0.40(6) meV and an average two-electron singlet-triplet splitting of 0.24(7) meV. In three dots, we observe a strong correlation between valley splitting and orbital energy, with an average linear coefficient of $\approx 0.22$ (meV/meV), demonstrating that electrostatic confinement can increase the valley splitting by several hundred microelectronvolts. In contrast, the remaining dot exhibits the highest valley splitting of 0.76(2) meV and low correlation, suggesting excellent characteristics for spin-qubit operation. Our findings demonstrate that strong confinement can be exploited in buried quantum wells to effectively enhance the valley splitting, thereby establishing a viable path toward the realization of shuttling and sparse-occupation-based architectures in low-disorder heterostructures.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Highly Tunable Two-Qubit Interactions in Si/SiGe Quantum Dots by Interchanging the Roles of Qubit-Defining Gates

Silicon quantum dot spin qubits have become a promising platform for scalable quantum computing because of their small size and compatibility with industrial semiconductor manufacturing processes. Although Si/SiGe heterostructures are commonly used to host spin qubits due to their high mobility and low percolation density, the SiGe spacer creates a gap between the qubits and control electrodes, which limits the ability to tune exchange coupling. As a result, residual coupling leads to unwanted single-qubit phase shifts, making multi-qubit control more difficult. In this work, we explore swapping the roles of overlapping nanogates to overcome this issue. By reconfiguring the gate voltages, we demonstrate in situ role switching while maintaining multi-qubit control. Additionally, this method significantly improves the tunability of exchange coupling by several orders of magnitude over the traditional approach. This strategy reduces unintended single-qubit phase shifts and minimizes the complexity of multi-qubit control, supporting scalable growth with minimal experimental overhead.

quant-ph↗