Pure Silicone

Scientists have produced highly pure silicon, and this groundbreaking new material could enable quantum computers.

Quantum Computers

The researchers behind this development say that it enables engineers to produce highly purified silicon, a perfect material for building large-scale quantum computers, using a new technique. These quantum computers could eventually be ‘transformative’ for humanity by solving problems that could take centuries with current technology.

David Jamieson from the University of Melbourne, one of the advisors on the project, said, ‘The great news is that we can now use a standard machine found in any semiconductor fabrication laboratory (an ion implanter) configured to a specific setting that we have designed to purify silicon to this level.’

Richard Curry, a professor of advanced electronic materials at the University of Manchester where much of the work was done, said that this discovery could ‘significantly’ accelerate efforts to build a useful quantum computer. Curry noted that something previously 10 years away could now be achieved in 5 years or less.