A NEW KIND OF CHIP

Computers that run on quantum physics

Classical chips Billions of transistors switch between 0 and 1.

Quantum chips Tens to about a thousand qubits that follow the rules of quantum physics.

Made in cleanrooms With the same lithography, deposition and etch tools as Sand to Chip and MEMS.

A quantum computer is a chip too, and building one is a microfabrication problem.

THE PROBLEM WITH NATURE

Why ordinary computers struggle

Every particle doubles the bookkeeping Describing n quantum particles exactly takes 2ⁿ numbers.

50 qubits About 18 petabytes, more memory than the biggest supercomputers.

300 qubits More numbers than there are atoms in the observable universe.

Simulating quantum systems on classical chips gets exponentially harder.

FEYNMAN'S IDEA

1982 Richard Feynman suggests building computers out of quantum parts.

1994 Shor's algorithm shows a quantum computer could break today's encryption.

2019 to 2024 Chips with dozens of qubits, then proof that error correction can scale.

Forty years from idea to working chips, and the hardest engineering is still ahead.

WHAT'S DIFFERENT

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A qubit can hold a blend of 0 and 1.

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Qubits can share one state, so their results are linked.

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Amplitudes add and cancel like waves.

Every quantum algorithm uses all three. You'll meet each one in this part.

WHERE THIS COURSE GOES

Parts 1–2 The quantum ideas, and what makes a good qubit.

Parts 3–5 Superconducting qubits: how they work, how they're fabricated, why materials matter.

Parts 6–9 Silicon spins, other platforms, scaling up, and the quantum economy.

No advanced maths needed: sliders, games and 3D models carry the ideas.

UNIT 2 STUDY COMPLETE

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You've seen why simulating nature overwhelms classical computers and where quantum chips come in.