Quantinuum Partners to Develop Novel Semiconductors

Quantinuum plans to collaborate on semiconductor materials research using quantum computing with materials innovation specialist JSR Corporation of Japan.

A joint team based across Japan, Europe and the U.S. plans to use Quantinuum’s InQuanto software platform to model semiconducting materials, including metal complexes and transition metal oxides.

Semiconductors are essential to microelectronics. The project aims to make accurate predictions about the properties of candidate materials to use in future microelectronic devices.

The team expects to develop quantum algorithms and methods based on dynamical mean-field theory, a method to determine the electronic structure of strongly correlated materials. These materials show unusual, and often technologically useful, electronic and magnetic properties.

The aim is to better understand the electronic properties of complex organic and inorganic materials in the real world, such as optical absorption and conductivity, for use in future electronic components and computer processors.

In addition to using InQuanto for the semiconductor research, the new algorithms Quantinuum and JSR develop are scheduled to be incorporated into future iterations of InQuanto for other scientists and researchers to use.

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“We are delighted to have formed this new collaboration with Quantinuum, which builds on our previous work together,” said Rei Sakuma, principal researcher of JSR’s materials informatics initiative.

“The Quantinuum team continues to lead the field in quantum computing hardware and software, complementing our scientists’ deep expertise in materials innovation. Our aspiration is to develop materials that can enrich society and the environment. Quantinuum’s software platform InQuanto is already helping our team to gain a greater understanding of how quantum computing may help us accelerate our path towards that ambitious goal.”

“The work we do with JSR is at the absolute cutting edge of materials science using quantum computers, and we are thrilled to continue our relationship,” said Quantinuum CEO Ilyas Khan.

“This work will further develop InQuanto’s functionality, making sure that new developments will become available to other users in the future. This is the value of such a collaboration: JSR’s scientists know materials science, we know quantum computing, and the scientific community benefits.”

Quantinuum introduced its InQuanto software platform in May, aiming to make it easier for computational chemists to experiment with a wide range of quantum algorithms on today’s quantum computers.