Nature Nano: From a single atom to manufacturable quantum processors in silicon

In the 20th anniversary issue of Nature Nanotechnology, SQC's Head of Quantum Engineering Ludwik Kranz and CEO Michelle Simmons trace the journey from a single-atom transistor to manufacturable quantum processors in silicon.

Two decades ago, placing a single atom deterministically was a research goal. Today, it’s a highly automated manufacturing step that our team of atomic fabrication scientists can execute hundreds of thousands of times per day.  

The lesson from 25+ years of silicon quantum computing is that the impossible becomes industrial when precision becomes routine: single-atom devices gave way to qubits, qubits to processors, and processors yield commercial products in market today.

The remaining path to fault tolerance requires the disciplined industrialisation of our atomic-precision manufacturing technology, placing phosphorus atoms in silicon and then building systems around them: a pathway that leverages trillions of dollars of semiconductor R&D.

Read the full Comment piece here: https://rdcu.be/J96cMdADQUGa

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^{Figure adapted from Kranz, L., Simmons, M.Y. From a single atom to manufacturable quantum processors in silicon. Nat. Nanotechnol. 21, 1355–1357 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-026-02300-3}