Quantum leap at AIBN by achieving the first foundry-ready superconductive semiconductors

AIBN researchers have achieved what many consider the holy grail of quantum research – achieving superconductivity in semiconductors, a breakthrough that has puzzled physicists for more than 60 years.

Germanium, a semiconductor widely used in electrical devices, was coaxed, using precision crystal-growth methods, into conducting electricity without resistance by Dr Julian Steele and the research team from AIBN, the School of Mathematics and Physics and New York University.

This discovery of making a semiconducting element into a superconductor has paved the way for next-generation quantum circuits, which is critical for advancing quantum computing.

Industry adoption made easy

“Germanium is already commonly used in advanced semiconductor manufacturing, so this approach offers a promising path toward industry adoption,” said Dr Steele.

He said previous efforts to integrate superconductivity directly into semiconductor platforms had failed when structural disorder and atomic-scale imperfections were introduced.

“Rather than ion implantation, molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) was used to precisely incorporate gallium atoms into the germanium’s crystal lattice.”

“Using epitaxy – growing thin crystal layers – means we can finally achieve the structural precision needed to understand and control how superconductivity emerges in these materials.”

A new era of quantum devices

Dr Peter Jacobson from UQ’s School of Mathematics and Physics said the result opens a pathway for a new era of hybrid quantum devices.

“These materials could underpin future quantum circuits, sensors and low-power cryogenic electronics, all of which need clean interfaces between superconducting and semiconducting regions,” Dr Jacobson said.

“Germanium is already a workhorse material for advanced semiconductor technologies, so by showing it can also become superconducting under controlled growth conditions there’s now potential for scalable, foundry-ready quantum devices.”

Dr Carla Verdi from UQ’s School of Mathematics and Physics showed this ordered atomic structure reshapes the electronic bands in a way that naturally supports superconductivity.

“This theoretical work confirmed that gallium atoms substitute neatly into the germanium lattice, creating the electronic conditions for superconductivity,” Dr Verdi said.

“It’s an elegant example of how computation and experiment together can solve a problem that has challenged materials science for more than half a century.”

The research has been published in Nature Nanotechnology.

Collaboration and acknowledgements

The work was a collaboration between UQ, New York University, ETH Zürich and Ohio State University.

Experiments were performed at ANSTO’s Australian Synchrotron and computational work was carried out using national high-performance computing resources.

Dr Peter Jacobson and Dr Carla Verdi are at UQ’s School of Mathematics and Physics.

Dr Julian Steele has a dual affiliation with UQ’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and the School of Mathematics and Physics.