Abstract
The development of superconducting quantum computing platforms faces considerable scaling challenges because individual signal lines are required to control each qubit. This wiring overhead is a result of the low level of integration between the control electronics at room temperature and the qubits operating at millikelvin temperatures. A promising alternative is to use cryogenic superconducting digital control electronics that coexist with qubits. Here we present an active quantum processor unit in which qubits and single-flux quantum control electronics are integrated into a single multi-chip module via flip-chip bonding. Our system uses digital demultiplexing to distribute control pulses to several qubits, thus breaking the linear scaling of control lines to the number of qubits. With this approach, we demonstrate single-qubit fidelities above 99% and up to 99.9%.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$32.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
USD 39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout




Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The data supporting this study are available on request from the corresponding author.
References
Arute, F. et al. Quantum supremacy using a programmable superconducting processor. Nature 574, 505–510 (2019).
Wu, Y. et al. Strong quantum computational advantage using a superconducting quantum processor. Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 180501 (2021).
Morvan, A. et al. Phase transitions in random circuit sampling. Nature 634, 328–333 (2024).
Fowler, A. G., Mariantoni, M., Martinis, J. M. & Cleland, A. N. Surface codes: towards practical large-scale quantum computation. Phys. Rev. A 86, 032324 (2012).
Krinner, S. et al. Engineering cryogenic setups for 100-qubit scale superconducting circuit systems. EPJ Quantum Technol. https://doi.org/10.1287/ijoc.1090.0342 (2018).
Yoo, J. et al. 34.2 A 28-nm bulk-CMOS IC for full control of a superconducting quantum processor unit-cell. In Proc. 2023 IEEE International Solid- State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) 506–508 (IEEE, 2023).
Chakraborty, S. et al. A cryo-CMOS low-power semi-autonomous transmon qubit state controller in 14-nm FinFET technology. IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits 57, 3258–3273 (2022).
McDermott, R. et al. Quantum-classical interface based on single flux quantum digital logic. Quantum Sci. Technol. 3, 024004 (2018).
Polonsky, S. V. et al. New RSFQ circuits (Josephson junction digital devices). IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. 3, 2566–2577 (1993).
Koch, J. et al. Charge-insensitive qubit design derived from the Cooper pair box. Phys. Rev. A 76, 042319 (2007).
McDermott, R. & Vavilov, M. G. Accurate qubit control with single flux quantum pulses. Phys. Rev. Appl. 2, 014007 (2014).
McKay, D. C., Wood, C. J., Sheldon, S., Chow, J. M. & Gambetta, J. M. Efficient Z gates for quantum computing. Phys. Rev. A 96, 022330 (2017).
Leonard, E. et al. Digital coherent control of a superconducting qubit. Phys. Rev. Appl. 11, 014009 (2019).
Liu, C. H. et al. Single flux quantum-based digital control of superconducting qubits in a multichip module. PRX Quantum 4, 030310 (2023).
Somoroff, A. et al. Fluxonium qubits in a flip-chip package. Phys. Rev. Appl. 21, 024015 (2024).
Castellanos-Beltran, M. A. et al. Coherence-limited digital control of a superconducting qubit using a Josephson pulse generator at 3 K. Appl. Phys. Lett. 122, 192602 (2023).
Magesan, E. et al. Efficient measurement of quantum gate error by interleaved randomized benchmarking. Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 080505 (2012).
Liebermann, P. J. & Wilhelm, F. K. Optimal qubit control using single-flux quantum pulses. Phys. Rev. Appl. 6, 024022 (2016).
Li, K., McDermott, R. & Vavilov, M. G. Hardware-efficient qubit control with single-flux-quantum pulse sequences. Phys. Rev. Appl. 12, 014044 (2019).
Liu, K. et al. Single-flux-quantum-based qubit control with tunable driving strength. Chin. Phys. B 32, 128501 (2023).
Shillito, R., Hopfmueller, F., Kulchytskyy, B. & Ronagh, P. Compact pulse schedules for high-fidelity single-flux quantum qubit control. Phys. Rev. Applied 24, 014038 (2025).
Vozhakov, V., Bastrakova, M., Klenov, N., Satanin, A. & Soloviev, I. Speeding up qubit control with bipolar single-flux-quantum pulse sequences. Quantum Sci. Technol. 8, 035024 (2023).
Catelani, G., Schoelkopf, R. J., Devoret, M. H. & Glazman, L. I. Relaxation and frequency shifts induced by quasiparticles in superconducting qubits. Phys. Rev. B 84, 064517 (2011).
Liu, K. et al. Quasiparticle dynamics in superconducting quantum-classical hybrid circuits. Phys. Rev. B 108, 064512 (2023).
Gustavsson, S. et al. Suppressing relaxation in superconducting qubits by quasiparticle pumping. Science 354, 1573–1577 (2016).
Iaia, V. et al. Phonon downconversion to suppress correlated errors in superconducting qubits. Nat. Commun. 13, 6425 (2022).
McEwen, M. et al. Resisting high-energy impact events through gap engineering in superconducting qubit arrays. Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 240601 (2024).
Liu, C. H. et al. Quasiparticle poisoning of superconducting qubits from resonant absorption of pair-breaking photons. Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 017001 (2024).
Kosen, S. et al. Signal crosstalk in a flip-chip quantum processor. PRX Quantum 5, 030350 (2024).
Levine, H. et al. Demonstrating a long-coherence dual-rail erasure qubit using tunable transmons. Phys. Rev. X 14, 011051 (2024).
Feng, G. et al. Estimating the coherence of noise in quantum control of a solid-state qubit. Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 260501 (2016).
Kirichenko, A. F. et al. System and method of flux bias for superconducting quantum circuits. US patent 12,087,503 В2 (2024).
Acharya, R. et al. Multiplexed superconducting qubit control at millikelvin temperatures with a low-power cryo-CMOS multiplexer. Nat. Electron. 6, 900–909 (2023).
Likharev, K. K. & Semenov, V. K. RSFQ logic/memory family: a new Josephson-junction technology for sub-terahertz-clock-frequency digital systems. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. 1, 3–28 (1991).
Kirichenko, D. E., Sarwana, S. & Kirichenko, A. F. Zero static power dissipation biasing of RSFQ circuits. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. 21, 776–779 (2011).
Kaplan, S. B. & Mukhanov, O. A. Operation of a superconductive demultiplexer using rapid single flux quantum (RSFQ) technology. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. 5, 2853–2856 (1995).
Chip Foundry. SEEQC https://seeqc.com/foundry-services (2026).
Johansson, J. R., Nation, P. D. & Nori, F. QuTiP 2: a Python framework for the dynamics of open quantum systems. Comput. Phys. Commun. 184, 1234–1240 (2013).
Pedersen, L. H., Møller, N. M. & Mølmer, K. Fidelity of quantum operations. Phys. Lett. A 367, 47–51 (2007).
Wood, C. J. & Gambetta, J. M. Quantification and characterization of leakage errors. Phys. Rev. A 97, 032306 (2018).
Acknowledgements
We thank the staff of the Seeqc superconducting foundry for the SFQ wafer fabrication and room-temperature characterization.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
C.J. and S.-J.H. conceived the project. Experiments were performed by J.B. with assistance from K.B., K.P., J.R., C.J., A.S. and A.W. A.K., C.J. and O.M. designed the devices. C.J. and L.F.-B. performed the simulations. K.-T.T., J.W., M.-J.Y., M.R. and I.V. tested and validated the carrier chip. J.R., K.B., L.F.-B., K.P. and J.J. provided software support. C.C. fabricated the quantum chips. I.V. and D.Y. managed the testing and fabrication resources and facilities. S.-J.H. oversaw the project. C.J. and S.-J.H. wrote the paper with input from all authors.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Peer review
Peer review information
Nature Electronics thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Peer reviewer reports are available.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary information
Supplementary Information (download PDF )
Supplementary discussion, Figs. 1–4 and Table 1.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Jordan, C., Bernhardt, J., Rahamim, J. et al. A quantum computer controlled by superconducting digital electronics at millikelvin temperature. Nat Electron 9, 287–294 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-026-01576-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Version of record:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-026-01576-6


