This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A recent study published in Nature Electronics and carried out by researchers from nanoGUNE's Quantum Hardware research group, Quantum Motion, London Center for Nanotechnology, Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge introduces a new superinductor created within a silicon integrated circuit fabricated in a commercial complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) process. Superinductors are electrical inductors that are engineered to have an extremely large inductance, often far beyond what can be achieved with conventional coils.
They are particularly important for superconducting qubits and quantum circuits, as a large inductance can dramatically alter the circuit's quantum behavior. This makes superinductors interesting for quantum technology, as they enable the creation of circuits with very large impedance and very small inductive energy scales. In this work, researchers show that superconducting circuit elements can be fabricated with a commercial CMOS process by utilizing titanium nitride (TiN).
TiN is particularly well suited for this purpose because of its high kinetic inductance, which makes it possible to create compact, high-inductance circuit elements while maintaining robust superconducting properties. The work has reported the development of a nonlinear superinductor within a silicon integrated circuit. The system can be used to create a radiofrequency single-electron transistor—a widely used sensor for semiconductor spin qubits—with a compact footprint and high sensitivity.
The next step will be to integrate the resonator with multi-gate transistors to demonstrate high-speed, high-fidelity spin readout well below the microsecond timescale. However, according to the research team, "the applications of the TiN-based CMOS inductors could expand well beyond quantum sensing and computing for spin qubits, impacting areas such as radio astronomy, low-power cryoelectronics and quantum sensing and simulations." Thomas H. Swift et al., A nonlinear superinductor in a deep-submicrometre integrated circuit, Nature Electronics (2026).
DOI: 10.1038/s41928-026-01728-8 BA art history, MA material culture. Former museum editor, paramedic, and transplant coordinator. Editing for Science X since 2021.
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