University of Birmingham collaboration with graphene technology company Paragraf targets quantum computing

The University of Birmingham is collaborating with Paragraf Ltd, a UK-based company pioneering the mass production of graphene-based electronics, with funding awards to accelerate the scaling up of the production of graphene on six-inch wafers and explore the potential of graphene sensors for quantum computing. 

Graphene consists of a single layer of carbon atoms and has unique physical properties including high strength and unique electrical conductivity. Graphene sensors function with unbeaten precision at ultra-low temperatures, holding promise that they could be used to govern the delicate magnetic shielding and control of the qubit processors used in quantum computing.

However graphene has had challenges in manufacturing at scale, graphene electronics is an emerging industry, and cryogenic (extreme low temperature) testing of such graphene devices has also been challenging.

Two awards, of £1.4 million from Innovate UK and a £2m UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship award will allow Birmingham researchers led by Dr Matt Coak from the School of Physics and Astronomy supported by the team at Paragraf and others to drive these developments for commercialisation at scale in the graphene world.

The collaboration is targeting quantum computing as a key use case.  Dr Natasha Conway, Research Director at Paragraf says, “Graphene magnetic sensors have the potential to be a key enabling technology in quantum computers. The cutting-edge research being conducted at Birmingham is enabling us to prepare for this transformative market as it develops.”

Dr Coak said: “Cryogenic testing of real, practical, graphene devices has not been carried out before, and their properties at ultra-low temperatures, in the realm of truly quantum behaviour, are largely unknown.”

“The future of electronics lies in the adoption of advanced materials,” said Simon Thomas, Co-Founder and CEO of Paragraf. “Scaling up our production of real-world devices that are prepared to solve significant problems in quantum computing, battery management, agritech, molecular sensing and many other arenas is a major step towards realising that future in a sustainable way. And the fact that we are able to do this here in the UK means that the country stands to lead the advanced materials revolution.”

The group and the experimental capabilities at Birmingham, with specialised low-temperature equipment, and a background in nanotechnology, quantum computing and 2D materials, are a crucial part of building to this future. The funding will allow Dr Coak’s team to explore new 2D materials and electronic devices – and the partnership with Paragraf is a crucial to the discovery of quantum states in these new 2D materials, then deploying new technology built from them.

Dr Coak further explained Birmingham’s capabilities and role in the partnership: “The School of Physics and Astronomy is carrying out systematic testing at high and low temperatures of graphene magnetic field sensors for use in quantum computers and the charging and battery management circuitry of electric cars. We are additionally probing the fundamental quantum physics inside these single sheets of atoms and seeking to construct detailed theoretical models to describe their electronic behaviour.”