Diamond Quantum Technology Moves Towards A New Journey

Recently, Quantum Brilliance began delivering its room temperature quantum computing system to Fraunhofer IAF and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States, marking a turning point for diamond quantum technology towards engineering practicality. The company uses nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers as quantum bits and achieves sub nanometer level defect localization in diamond through scanning probe technology, completing the transition from prototype verification to first generation commercialization. At the same time, it has also initiated a collaboration with the European Microelectronics Center IMEC to explore incorporating diamond into CMOS compatible wafer level processes, attempting to drive the construction of on-chip quantum processors (QPUs).

With the global quantum computing and advanced sensing technology entering the engineering transformation stage, diamond materials are increasingly being used by enterprises and research institutions to build quantum chips and high-precision sensors due to their ability to support quantum state control under normal temperature and pressure conditions. Unlike laboratory results that only focus on principle verification, a group of enterprises have advanced to the stages of system delivery, equipment small-scale testing, and standard wafer process line introduction, forming an industrial prototype with practical implementation scenarios.

Quantum Brilliance is currently one of the most highly engineered companies in the global diamond quantum chip field. The company uses nitrogen vacancy structures to construct quantum bits and has delivered its first quantum computing system to Fraunhofer IAF in Germany in 2024, and will deliver three standard systems to Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States in 2025. These systems are based on standard 19 inch rack packaging, integrated with Quantum Brilliance's self-developed quantum software development toolkit and NVIDIA CUDA-Q platform, supporting hybrid quantum classical computing models for high-performance molecular modeling, AI algorithm acceleration, and other scenario testing. The company is also collaborating with the Australian Department of Defense to test the performance of diamond quantum chips for edge AI inference and localization modules in mobile tactical terminals.

 

Fraunhofer IAF is one of the Quantum Brilliance partners and the driving force behind the engineering application of diamond quantum sensing in Germany. The company undertook the core part of the DE Brill project - creating NV defect structures with sub nanometer precision in diamond crystals through a scanning probe system. In addition to technological research and development, Fraunhofer IAF has also launched a vehicle testing project for diamond quantum sensors with the support of the German Ministry of Defense, deployed in scenarios such as land navigation, submarine attitude measurement, and electromagnetic anomaly detection. In 2024, Fraunhofer officially released the QB-QDK 2.0 platform, which combines its diamond quantum processing unit with NVIDIA GPU and CPU to form a hybrid computing node, supporting third-party development teams to conduct quantum neural network and multimodal sensing algorithm testing.

 

IMEC is the largest semiconductor research center in Europe and is collaborating with Quantum Brilliance to incorporate diamond materials into the standard process flow of a 12 inch photonic wafer factory. According to the agreement between both parties, the goal is to establish a basic process line adapted to diamond within 12 months, including patterning, photolithography, ion implantation, and testing modules. If there are incompatible links in the CMOS process, IMEC will assist in transferring them to its newly built photonics factory in Malaga, Spain for process customization. This move is seen as an important symbol of the evolution of diamond chips from "experimental equipment" to "standard process nodes".

 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a key deployment unit of the US government in diamond quantum system testing. The laboratory has signed a procurement agreement and will receive three sets of Quantum Brilliance systems by 2025 for high-throughput parallel computing, quantum system interconnection, and chemical simulation experiment platform construction. ORNL is also advancing internal research projects to explore embedding diamond QPUs into its existing GPU computing arrays and comparing the practical differences in algorithm efficiency, power consumption, and module size of superconducting systems. At the same time, the Quantum Systems Accelerator project funded by the US Department of Energy has also included research on diamond quantum sensors, focusing on the development of quantum magnetic detectors in high radiation environments.

In Japan, the diamond chip and quantum sensing projects have entered the stage of multi departmental collaboration and promotion. Sumitomo Electric is one of the few companies in the world with the ability to mass produce electronic grade single crystal diamond. Its Kobe factory is capable of mass producing electronic grade diamond chips with a thermal conductivity exceeding 2000W/m · K. In addition to supplying power semiconductor customers, it also serves as a substrate for NV devices and supports multiple Japanese government funded quantum research projects. In 2023, AIST and Sumitomo Electric will collaborate to promote high-sensitivity magnetic resonance detectors based on NV centers for the detection of micro magnetic signals in biological tissues. This system has now completed the construction of a small prototype in the laboratory and is entering the verification stage of biosensing application scenarios.

 

In the United States, in addition to ORNL, Akhan Semiconductor and HRL Laboratories are also conducting physical diamond chip development. Akhan is engaged in the commercial development of diamond electronic devices and is building integrated quantum photonic chips based on diamond, with the goal of using them in tactical communication systems and military precision sensors. HRL focuses more on the packaging engineering and optoelectronic control interface development of diamond QPU. Its team has disclosed in an internal report in 2024 that it has completed all-optical control packaging testing for a 16 qubit NV array chip.

In China, the diamond quantum chip field has not yet formed a complete industrial chain, but some research institutions have made clear progress. The Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has carried out the quantum coherent regulation experiment of the NV Center as early as 2019, and is currently promoting the stability research of the multi bit array based on the "stepped diamond structure". In 2023, the Shanghai Institute of Technology and Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Zhijiang Laboratory jointly developed a "quantum multi field detection chip", which achieved a 100 bit level NV sensing array structure and completed the first round of comparative testing in weak magnetic signal detection scenarios. The chip is still in the experimental prototype stage, but the project team has initiated software and hardware co validation with domestic laser and FPGA controller manufacturers.

 

The National University of Defense Technology is also advancing the engineering project of a diamond based magnetic field measurement system, and has completed the overall testing of a portable magnetic flux detection module. In 2024, the system was applied to signal shielding monitoring tasks in a complex electromagnetic environment of a military industrial park, with data accuracy 3-5 times better than traditional Hall sensors. There are also reports that Nanjing Minimally Invasive Research Institute is collaborating with diamond thermal management material manufacturer Tianke Heda to develop standard on-chip sensing structures on its high-purity CVD diamond platform, with the goal of providing a domestic material foundation with commercial potential for quantum sensors.

 

Diamond, as a multifunctional material for quantum information carriers, chip packaging materials, and sensing platforms, has shown potential for engineering applications in multiple fields. The next stage of competition may no longer be about 'who can prove feasibility', but 'who can deploy stably, in batches, and integrably'