Imec said it built the first quantum dot qubit device patterned with High-NA EUV, using silicon spin qubits with gate gaps of about 6 nanometers.
The advance targets quantum computing’s main bottleneck: manufacturing millions of reproducible qubits, rather than proving the underlying physics still works.
High-NA EUV raises numerical aperture to 0.55 from 0.33, enabling tighter, more precise patterning; imec only installed the tool in its 300mm cleanroom in March 2026.
Because silicon quantum dot qubits can use CMOS-style processes, the result suggests quantum hardware could scale on the semiconductor industry’s existing manufacturing roadmap instead of a separate fabrication stack.
Imec’s prototype is still far from a fault-tolerant machine, but it moves lab-scale quantum dots closer to wafer-level production for future cloud-based systems used by industry and governments.
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Imec has achieved a world first by fabricating a quantum dot qubit device using High Numerical Aperture Extreme Ultraviolet (High-NA EUV) lithography. This breakthrough moves quantum device manufacturing from specialized labs to reproducible, 300mm fab-compatible processes, which are essential for industrial scalability. High-NA EUV lithography is now positioned as a foundational technology for building large-scale quantum computing hardware, enabling the creation of complex quantum processor architectures. By overcoming key manufacturing hurdles, this innovation accelerates the path toward practical, scalable quantum computers and marks a pivotal step for the future of advanced semiconductor technology.