This paper presents the first experimental investigation and physical discussion of the cryogenic behavior of a commercial 28 nm bulk CMOS technology. Here we extract the fundamental physical parameters of this technology at 300, 77 and 4.2 K based on DC measurement results. The extracted values are then used to demonstrate the impact of cryogenic temperatures on the essential analog design parameters. We find that the simplified charge-based EKV model can accurately predict the cryogenic behavior. This represents a main step towards the design of analog/RF circuits integrated in an advanced bulk CMOS process and operating at cryogenic temperature for quantum computing control systems.

This paper presents the characterization and modeling of microwave passive components in TSMC 40-nm bulk CMOS, including metal-oxide-metal (MoM) capacitors, transformers, and resonators, at deep cryogenic temperatures (4.2 K). To extract the parameters of the passive components, the pad parasitics were de-embedded from the test structures using an open fixture. The variations in capacitance, inductance and quality factor are explained in relation to the temperature dependence of the physical parameters, and the resulting insights on the modeling of passives at cryogenic temperatures are provided. Modeling the characteristics of on-chip passive components, presented for the first time down to 4.2 K, is essential in designing cryogenic CMOS radio-frequency integrated circuits, a promising candidate to build the electronic interface for scalable quantum computers.

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In this letter, we characterize the electrical properties of commercial bulk 40-nm MOSFETs at room and deep cryogenic temperatures, with a focus on quantum information processing (QIP) applications. At 50 mK, the devices operate as classical FETs or quantum dot devices when either a high or low drain bias is applied, respectively. The operation in classical regime shows improved transconductance and subthreshold slope with respect to 300 K. In the quantum regime, all measured devices show Coulomb blockade. This is explained by the formation of quantum dots in the channel, for which a model is proposed. The variability in parameters, important for quantum computing scaling, is also quantified. Our results show that bulk 40-nm node MOSFETs can be readily used for the co-integration of cryo-CMOS classical-quantum circuits at deep cryogenic temperatures and that the variability approaches the uniformity requirements to enable shared control.

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Cryogenic solid-state quantum processors require classical control and readout electronics; to achieve compactness and scalability, cryogenic integrated circuits have been recently proposed for this goal. Circulators are widely used in readout circuits, however they are typically discrete bulky devices, thus preventing miniaturization. To address this issue, we propose a fully integrated 40-nm CMOS 6.5-GHz circulator operating from 300 K to 4.2 K. At 300 K, it achieves a 2.2-dB insertion loss, an 18-dB isolation, and a 2.4-dB noise figure over the 1-dB bandwidth from 5.6 GHz to 7.4 GHz, with a core power of only 2.5 mW. This improves to 2.1 mW core power at 4.2 K, while showing 1.3-dB insertion loss and 17-dB isolation over the 1-dB bandwidth from 5.8 GHz to 7.6 GHz. The circuit achieves a record-low core power and a 1.6× wider fractional bandwidth than the state-of-the-art, thus allowing its use for multiple channels in power-constrained cryogenic refrigerators. These advances are enabled by a fully-passive architecture based on LC all-pass filters, allowing the use of a lower clock frequency than in prior art.

Quantum computers require classical electronics to ensure fault-tolerant operation. To address compactness and scalability, it was proposed to implement such electronics as integrated circuits operating at cryogenic temperatures close to those at which quantum bits (qubits) operate. Circulators are among the most common blocks used in the qubit readout chain, but they are currently discrete devices with a bulky footprint, thus preventing large-scale system integration. For this reason, we present here a detailed description of the first fully integrated CMOS circulator operating from 300 K down to 4.2 K to be an integral part of cryogenic quantum computing platforms. At 300 K, the circuit's operating frequency is centered around 6.5 GHz with 28% fractional bandwidth, and it has 2.2-dB insertion loss, 2.4-dB noise figure, and 18-dB isolation while consuming 2.5-mW core power. These results are achieved thanks to a fully passive architecture based on LC all-pass filters, which allows achieving a 1.6× increase in fractional bandwidth and the lowest power consumption with respect to the state of the art while using only 0.45 mm 2 of core area. This allows miniaturization of circulators in power-constrained multi-qubit readout systems.

In this article, a cryo-CMOS receiver integrated with a frequency synthesizer for scalable multiplexed readout of qubits is presented, focusing on radio frequency (RF) reflectometry readout of silicon-based semiconductor spin qubits/quantum dots. The proposed spin qubit readout chip consists of a wideband low noise amplifier (LNA), a quadrature mixer, a complex filter, a pair of in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) intermediate frequency (IF) amplifier chains, and a type-II charge-pump phase-locked loop (PLL) with a programmable frequency divider providing local oscillator (LO) signals. Noise optimizations are applied to the LNA design and the quadrature active mixer design to obtain the required performance. A mode-switching complementary voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is proposed to achieve low-power and low-phase noise in a wide-frequency tuning range (46.5%). Circuit modifications and design considerations for robust cryogenic temperature operation are presented and discussed. Measurements show that the receiver provides an average gain of 65 dB, a minimum noise figure of 0.5 dB, an IF bandwidth of 0.1-1.5 GHz, and an image rejection ratio of 23 dB at 3.5 K with a power consumption of 108 mW. This cryo-CMOS receiver with frequency synthesizer for spin qubit readout is a first step toward fully-integrated qubit readout and control.