Three silicon qubits, 99.99% precision: A quantum computing breakthrough - Tech Explorist

ScienceQuantum Physics Three silicon qubits, 99.99% precision: A quantum computing breakthrough Silicon spin qubits take a leap toward scalable quantum computing.

By Amit Malewar Published: October 16, 2026 Updated: October 16, 2026 Add as preferred source 2 min read Share this Article Credit: Magnific Quantum computing promises to revolutionize everything from drug discovery to cryptography, but one of the biggest hurdles has been scaling up qubits, the quantum bits that power these machines, without losing accuracy. Silicon spin qubits, which encode information in the spin of electrons trapped in silicon, are especially attractive because they’re compatible with the same semiconductor technologies used to make today’s computer chips. Yet they’ve had a nagging weakness: when several qubits are operated in parallel, accuracy tends to drop. Researchers from the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science and their colleagues may have solved a portion of the puzzle. The research was published in Nature Physics and showed that it was possible to control many silicon spin qubits at once, which is an important step forward to building large-scale quantum computers using silicon technology. When many qubits are driven at once, the microwave control signals may cause what is known as the “AC Stark shift” that changes the qubits’ energy levels and therefore distorts the qubits’ quantum state and reduces the level of accuracy. Scientists Use AI to Cut Quantum Computing Errors by 100× The researchers identified this effect as the main reason for their problem and therefore came up with a smart way to fix it. They did not calibrate every possible pair of qubits, which would be extremely difficult, but rather used pairwise phase calibration to correct for the undesirable phase changes. As Yi-Hsien Wu, first author, explained: “Rather than requiring an entirely separate calibration procedure for every possible combination of qubits, our method uses calibrations between pairs of qubits to compensate for the unwanted phase shifts.” With optimized device design and carefully tuned microwave pulses, the researchers achieved single-qubit gate fidelities above 99.99%, with the best approaching 99.999%. Even more impressively, fidelities stayed above 99.99% when they operated up to three qubits simultaneously. Running all five qubits in parallel, fidelities remained around 99.9%, close to the threshold needed for fault-tolerant quantum computing. The other degradation is due to drive-induced decoherence resulting from the increased microwave power needed to operate simultaneously. While this effect wasn’t eliminated, the team believes further device improvements could reduce it. New quantum computing architecture will enable high-fidelity communication “This shows that high-fidelity control can be maintained even when several qubits are operated at the same time and represents an important step toward scaling up silicon-based quantum processors,” said Leon Camenzind, co-first author and supervisor of the experiments. By proving that shared microwave control lines can deliver reliable parallel operation, the study strengthens the case for silicon spin qubits as a practical path to large-scale quantum computers. “Our long-term goal is to build a fault-tolerant quantum computer based on silicon spin qubits, and reliable parallel control is an essential step toward that goal,” added Seigo Tarucha, project manager under JST’s Moonshot Goal 6. Silicon spin qubits (electron-sized building blocks) can meet this requirement. The ability to control all qubits at once and with near-perfect precision is as important as having more qubits. This shows how silicon spin qubits can achieve what is needed for the future of quantum computing. Journal Reference: Wu, YH., Camenzind, L.C., Bütler, P. et al. Simultaneous high-fidelity single-qubit gates in a spin qubit array. Nat. Phys. (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41567-026-03466-2 Picks for you New quantum computing architecture will enable high-fidelity communication A key ingredient found for many quantum computation and communication Share this Article TopicsQuantum ComputerQubits Read next What do rats have to do with Islands surviving rising seas? 4minutes read How much CO₂ do research labs emit? EPFL has a new...2minutes read This rock traveled 90 kilometers into Earth, and scientists traced its...4minutes read Recommended Books The Cambridge Handbook of the Law, Policy, and Regulation for Human-Robot... Book ByCambridge University Press Tech ExploristScienceQuantum Physics JournalNature Physics UniversityRIKEN Now Popular Ancient teeth reveal the hidden human cost of Medieval Britain's lead industry Parkinson's disease leaves extensive damage in the DNA of brain cells An alien world 7.