Researchers make air-stable, ultrathin superconductors, for more scalable quantum devices

Researchers at MIT have cracked a major barrier in quantum computing: manufacturing ultrathin superconducting materials at scale. The team focused on niobium diselenide, a superconductor just one or a few atoms thick that degrades almost instantly when exposed to air. MIT News reports that they solved this by placing a protective layer of graphene on their substrate first, then growing the superconductor in the gap beneath it. The graphene shields the fragile material from oxidation while allowing it to form a smooth, uniform layer across an area larger than an inch. When integrated into a quantum circuit, the material maintained its superconducting properties and demonstrated high kinetic inductance—the ability to store lots of inductive energy in a tiny space, crucial for compact quantum devices. The technique could enable much smaller, more practical quantum computing hardware and advanced quantum technologies.

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