1st-of-its-kind cryogenic transistor is 1,000 times more efficient and could lead to much more powerful quantum computers

Colorful artistic representation of electronic circuit board elements.

The engineers who created the device say it's the world's first transistor capable of functioning efficiently in cryogenic conditions. (Image credit: bopshops/Getty Images)

A new type of transistor can dissipate almost zero heat — slashing energy usage in future quantum computers by up to 1,000 times and paving the way for massively scaled-up machines.

The engineers who created the device say it's the world's first transistor capable of functioning efficiently in cryogenic conditions — extremely low temperatures below -238 degrees Fahrenheit (-150 degrees Celsius).

It performs optimally at temperatures of 1 kelvin and lower — close to absolute zero, they explained in a study uploaded to the preprint database arXiv Oct. 1. (The study has not been peer-reviewed.)

Quantum computers need to be cooled to near-absolute zero for the qubits that power them to reach a state of "coherence," where they occupy a superposition of 1 and 0, the conventional bits of binary data. When you entangle qubits — link them over time and space so they share information — quantum computers can process calculations in parallel, whereas classical computers must process them in sequence one by one.

Conventional components perform incredibly inefficiently at these sub-freezing temperatures, the scientists said. They're also very hard to maintain — as more and more qubits are added to a system, the more heat is emitted, which makes it more difficult and expensive to sustain these ultralow temperatures.

Because the new transistor — dubbed the "cryo-CMOS transistor" — is optimized to operate at temperatures under 1 K and emit near-zero heat, it offers plenty of advantages over traditional electronics, representatives of the Finnish company SemiQon, which developed the transistor, said in a statement.

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It cuts heat dissipation by 1,000 times and consumes 0.1% of the power of traditional transistors. This allows control and readout electronics to be placed directly into the "cryostat" — a gigantic barrel responsible for the cooling — for the first time. It means that future machines can be scaled up far more cost-effectively and with fewer errors that disrupt calculations.

“It was clear to us and others in the scientific community that a transistor which can operate efficiently at ultra-low temperatures would offer substantial value to users in the advanced computing sector and wherever these devices are required to function in cryogenic conditions," Himadri Majumdar, SemiQon's CEO and co-founder, said in the statement.

Beyond quantum applications, the transistors could be used in high-performance computing, like in the world's fastest supercomputers and in space, company representatives said.

Keumars is the technology editor at Live Science. He has written for a variety of publications including ITPro, The Week Digital, ComputerActive, The Independent, The Observer, Metro and TechRadar Pro. He has worked as a technology journalist for more than five years, having previously held the role of features editor with ITPro. He is an NCTJ-qualified journalist and has a degree in biomedical sciences from Queen Mary, University of London. He's also registered as a foundational chartered manager with the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), having qualified as a Level 3 Team leader with distinction in 2023.