Over the past three decades, steady progress in superconducting qubit performance has shifted the focus from “hero devices” to scalable quantum hardware. Qubit coherence time is a key metric, but scalable systems also require system-level stability, high component yield, low power/energy use, and predictable device performance with tight distributions. Reproducible quantum device fabrication is particularly demanding because small variations in film quality, device geometry, and interfaces can translate directly into performance spread and loss.

This talk will describe how NY Creates is working to establish a 300-mm “quantum foundry” that democratizes access to high performance, repeatable devices.  The foundry incorporates a long series of processes tailored to quantum-device requirements. The presentation highlights R&D on superconducting materials stacks based on Ta, Nb, and Al, along with their oxides and nitrides. Challenges in reformulating conventional processes for quantum technologies will be discussed. Representative examples illustrate how advanced 300-mm tool capabilities, in-situ monitoring, and wafer-scale metrology are used to control thin-film properties and correlate materials metrics to device-relevant outcomes. The talk concludes with our perspectives on how a Superconducting Quantum Process Design Kit (SQPDK) can accelerate advances by partners across academia, national labs, and industry.

Ekta Bhatia is a Research Scientist at NY Creates, where she develops quantum technologies on a 300 mm wafer platform, spanning thin films, interfaces, and integration of Josephson-junction-based devices for scalable quantum computing. She is also an adjunct faculty at the University at Albany SUNY. Before joining NY Creates, she carried out research at the University of Cambridge (UK), the University of Maryland–Laboratory for Physical Sciences (USA), and NISER, HBNI (India), focusing on superconducting devices, spintronics, and microwave resonators. She has published 22 papers, holds two pending U.S. patents, and contributes to the scientific community through AVS service such as serving as Guest Editor for AVS Quantum Science, and Co-Chair of the AVS Quantum Mini-Symposia (2024–26). She also received JVST B Young Author Award and multiple IOP Reviewer Awards.

The performance of current quantum devices such as superconducting qubits, single photon emitters, and quantum sensors is limited in part by losses at surfaces and interfaces. Conventional fabrication using dry etch processes disorders and contaminates surfaces and sidewalls, increasing device loss. We are developing novel atomic layer etch (ALE) processes with reduced interfacial damage. In this talk, we will describe how quantum devices are made, evidence of interfacial loss, the mechanisms and chemistry of ALE, and how ALE is already being used to improve quantum device performance. 

Russ Renzas is an expert in atomic scale processing and superconducting device fabrication. He joined UNR in 2024, where he successfully setup the premier multiuser microfabrication facility in Nevada as both facility director and faculty in Electrical Engineering. Prior to UNR, Professor Renzas was the Quantum Technology Manager at Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology. He was at Rigetti Computing from 2016-2018, where he setup Fab-1 and led teams which delivered Rigetti’s first publicly-available quantum processors, increased T1 by 5x, automated Josephson Junction and via testing, and increased superconducting via yield from 0% to 99%. Professor Renzas earned his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at UC Berkeley (2010) and his B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering at Princeton University (2005).  He has over 20 academic publications with > 4,000 citations and 3 patents, and has given over 50 seminars on atomic scale processing for quantum device fabrication. His most recent publication represents the first research ever conducted at UNR’s new fabrication facility.