About imec
Imec is a large independent research and innovation centre for nanoelectronics and digital technology, not a startup. It is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, works with industrial partners, startups and more than 200 universities, and runs a 300 mm semiconductor pilot line. This entry covers its research into superconducting electronics and quantum devices, which aims to use standard chip manufacturing methods to build circuits that carry current with no resistance at very low temperatures. Its website describes a staff of about 6,500.
imec was founded in 1984 and is based in Leuven, Belgium. It is listed under Superconducting Computing, Quantum Computing.
Compute Technologies
- Superconducting Computing
What imec works on
Superconducting Computing
Superconducting computing uses circuits made of materials that have no electrical resistance when cooled below a critical temperature. The common material is niobium, which works at about 4 kelvin (around minus 269 degrees Celsius), the temperature of liquid helium. Without resistance, the wires do not waste energy as heat.
Quantum Computing
A quantum computer is a machine that uses the rules of quantum physics to process information. Its basic unit is the qubit. A classical bit is either 0 or 1. A qubit can be in a superposition, a state that combines both, and its measured result is probabilistic.
