{"id":27397,"date":"2022-11-30T15:13:33","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T16:13:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/?p=27397"},"modified":"2022-11-30T16:44:49","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T16:44:49","slug":"australias-place-in-the-semiconductor-world-ip-is-the-main-thing-says-quantum-computing-hopeful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/2022\/11\/30\/australias-place-in-the-semiconductor-world-ip-is-the-main-thing-says-quantum-computing-hopeful\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s place in the semiconductor world: IP is the main thing, says quantum computing hopeful"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today in Australia\u2019s place in the semiconductor world<\/a> we consider ASX-listed Archer Materials, which is developing a quantum processor. Brent Balinski spoke to CEO Dr Mohammad Choucair.<\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A lot of things are impossible, as the quote goes, until they\u2019re done. At this stage, building a practical quantum computer remains impossible.<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked about his company\u2019s approach to the challenge, which is based on a 2016 paper involving carbon nanospheres, CEO <\/span>Dr Mohammad Choucair compares it to another breakthrough he had earlier in his career with graphene.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was the early days of the material, originally made by separating sheets of graphite by sticky tape.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Choucair, now CEO of Archer Materials, showed before and during his PhD research that graphene could be made from alcohol, challenging the belief you had to start with graphite.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI remember that we had submitted a patent\u2026 application that was just titled <\/span>Graphene<\/span><\/i>,\u201d he tells us, highlighting how early things were concerning research into the nanomaterial.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a one-word title.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He says Archer Materials\u2019 quantum computing approach challenges the idea that you have to choose between materials either requiring a temperature near absolute zero (and requiring million-dollar refrigeration systems) but able to be integrated into electronics, or room temperature-compatible approaches like photonics, which can\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n

Progress this year included an announcement last month that they had developed a CMOS chip (fabricated by TMSC) to detect quantum information at room temperature on one of Archer\u2019s qubits.<\/span><\/p>\n

Time will tell if Archer is able to develop processors, which they call 12CQ, able to work inside phones and laptops, without the need for dilution refrigerators.<\/span><\/p>\n

But if they can do the impossible, could they build their chipsets here?<\/span><\/p>\n

It seems like another impossible ask for the company, <\/span>which announced in September<\/span><\/a> they will work with contract manufacturer GlobalFoundries to progress development of 12CQ on device and circuit designs, as well as high-volume fabrication. <\/span><\/p>\n

As with <\/span>Bluechiip\u2019s Andrew McLellan in yesterday\u2019s article<\/span><\/a> for this series, Choucair says their locally-developed intellectual property will be retained here, though the capacity needed for manufacture just doesn\u2019t exist in Australia.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIP in technology, in the semiconductor industry is incredibly important. And if you look at the priorities of a lot of semiconductor companies, IP will be at the top,\u201d explains Choucair.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see around the world, and I don\u2019t want to get into geopolitics, but no one company or one entity or sovereign or whatever has the ability to control the supply chain end to end. But it is critical to keep hold of that IP.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In this episode of <\/span>@AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski<\/span><\/i>, Choucair shares the company\u2019s progress on its quantum processor (it is also developing a biosensor), where he believes the nation can make a difference in the semiconductor value chain, what it would take to establish local chip fabrication, and more.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the facilities, I believe, here in Australia, locally, to do certain things, and certain things very well. Especially around the development of advanced materials,\u201d he says. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDo we have foundries that are worth $50 billion that spit out millions of wafers every week? No we don\u2019t. But it\u2019s not to say that we never will.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Episode guide<\/strong><\/p>\n

0:26 \u2013 Current work and an introduction to Archer<\/span><\/p>\n

1:16 \u2013 What drew him to science and then to nanotechnology.<\/span><\/p>\n

3:30 \u2013 An early breakthrough using graphene without graphite.<\/span><\/p>\n

4:50 \u2013 Being interested in commercialising research output from early on.  <\/span><\/p>\n

6:38 \u2013 The size of the company and who makes up their team.<\/span><\/p>\n

8:10 \u2013 The 2016 breakthrough, allowing the company to pursue quantum qubits that can operate at room temperature.  <\/span><\/p>\n

11:30 \u2013 Recognising a second paradigm shift, similar to making graphene without graphite.<\/span><\/p>\n

14:10 \u2013 Silicon won for transistors, but we don\u2019t know what will win for qubits.<\/span><\/p>\n

17:55 \u2013 Why you shouldn\u2019t listen to naysayers.<\/span><\/p>\n

20:10 \u2013 Progress in technology development isn\u2019t linear. <\/span><\/p>\n

22:10 \u2013 What does it mean to integrate what they are doing into modern-day electronics, and why is that so difficult with qubits?<\/span><\/p>\n

25:10 \u2013 Facilities in Australia that Archer is making use of.<\/span><\/p>\n

27:55 \u2013 Praise for the Australian National Fabrication Facility (Full disclosure: ANFF is the sponsor of this series.)<\/span><\/p>\n

29:36 \u2013 Production onshore is unlikely, should they reach commercial readiness. IP is the thing. The greatest value is in R&D. <\/span><\/p>\n

32:40 \u2013 Expanding beyond design and R&D in Australia is possible, and we shouldn\u2019t give up. If we had the will from the top to get it done then it will get done. \u201cIf we have the will, then we can carve the way for the high-tech industry in Australia.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Picture: credit ANFF<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today in Australia\u2019s place in the semiconductor world we consider ASX-listed Archer Materials, which is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27397"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27397"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27399,"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27397\/revisions\/27399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}