To develop techniques for improving the manufacturability of superconducting quantum circuits

The National Institute of Standards and Technology awarded a $411,365 Cooperative Agreement (70NANB25H091) to Theiss Research on October 1, 2025, under the Measurement and Engineering Research and Standards program (CFDA 11.609).

The award funds development of techniques to improve the manufacturability of superconducting quantum circuits. Theiss Research will provide innovative tools to fabricate superconducting circuits with fewer errors, detect errors during fabrication, correct errors before circuits reach users, and automate and streamline the manufacturing process. If successful, the work will reduce manufacturing costs for quantum-sensor cameras and decrease the number of dead pixels within those cameras, with similar benefits projected for arrays of superconducting qubits used in quantum computing. The recipient does not intend to subaward funds.

Performance will take place in La Jolla, California from October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2028.

Activities

This project will provide innovative tools to fabricate superconducting circuits with fewer errors, to detect errors during fabrication, to correct errors before circuits are disseminated to users, and to perform the manufacturing in a more automated and more efficient way.

Expected outcomes

If successful, the proposal will reduce the cost of manufacturing cameras of quantum sensors and reduce the number of dead pixels within these cameras. The proposal will have similar benefits for the manufacturing of arrays of superconducting qubits used for quantum computing.

Intended beneficiaries

Academic, government, and industrial researchers developing quantum sensors and quantum computing for a wide range of applications will be the direct beneficiaries of this work. Improvements to quantum sensing will also benefit the public, for example by making providing real-time diagnostic data at nuclear facilities, thereby improving their operating efficiency. IT is very valuable to U.S. Energy security to make nuclear energy safer and less costly. Improvements to quantum computing will indirectly benefit the public by providing new chemistry simulation capabilities and the ability to solve computationally intractable problems. These developments could lead to numerous advances such as the discovery of new medicines.

Subrecipient activities

The recipient does not intend to subaward funds.