Superconducting microelectronics: workshop sheds light on the potential of energy-efficient circuits

According to the Federal Statistical Office, the energy requirements of data centers in Germany alone reached almost 20 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) in 2024. This means that electricity consumption has almost doubled since 2010 - and the trend is rising rapidly. While leading global companies such as Google are planning to cover the growing energy requirements of their data centers with nuclear power using small, modular nuclear reactors, researchers around the world are working on technologies to improve the efficiency and speed of electronic circuits.

One such promising technology is superconducting electronics - the subject of the 13th FLUXONICS workshop, which has been bringing international experts together at TU Ilmenau since 2001. It operates at extremely low temperatures and thus makes it possible to conduct electricity without resistance and therefore without loss.

This year's workshop will focus on the design of superconducting microelectronic circuits based on single flux quanta - the smallest possible amount of magnetic flux that can exist in a superconducting material. They are used in quantum computer technology as information carriers in quantum computers, so-called qubits, and enable extremely precise measurements of magnetic fields.

The workshop will focus on topics ranging from the basic principles of superconducting sensors and circuits, design approaches and system integration to requirements for applications in digital quantum computing and neuromorphic circuits. 

Pooling international research efforts in these areas and providing an ecosystem from basic research to chip fabrication is crucial to how we can improve energy efficiency and computing performance in the future,

says host Prof. Hannes Töpfer, Dean of the Department of Electronic Engineering and Information Technology and Head of the Group of Theoretical Electrical Engineering:

'Especially in the age of AI and the associated hunger for resources, it is particularly important to quickly transition such alternatives from the research stage into practical demonstrators and systemic prototypes.

The large number of top-class experts at this year's event compared to the first events underlines the importance of the topic for sustainable information technology, as is also being researched at the Center for Micro and Nanotechnologies (ZMN), among others: While Nobuyuki Yoshikawa, Professor at Yokohama National University in Japan, has been at the forefront of the development of the most energy-efficient (on-chip) microprocessors in the world since 2008, Scott Holmes is playing a key role in the creation and updating of the International Roadmap for Devices and Systems (IRDS), which sets out the future direction in the development of microelectronic devices and systems. Jie Ren heads a research group at the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (SIMIT) that specializes in the creation of advanced chips.

The workshop opened with a lecture by Oleg Mukhanov, a pioneer of superconducting circuits. In 1987, he provided the first experimental proof of superconducting digital circuits. Since then, his contributions, particularly in the field of superconducting digital electronics and in the application of Josephson junctions in quantum computers and highly sensitive measuring instruments, have laid the foundations for the commercial application of superconducting digital circuits.