Russia has developed a new technology for the production of superconducting integrated circuits that is based on tantalum. This technology has the potential to improve the country’s position in the rapidly evolving field of quantum computing. The technology was developed by researchers at the Quantum Park of Bauman Moscow State Technical University and the Dukhov Automatics Research Institute (VNIIA). It has already demonstrated resonator quality factors of approximately 10 million in the single-photon regime. According to the developers, the first quantum co-processors that will be used on the new tantalum platform have already been contracted for delivery in autumn 2026.
A New Material Platform for Quantum Computing
The significance of the development lies not simply in producing another superconducting chip but in establishing a domestic manufacturing process for tantalum-based superconducting integrated circuits. These circuits are regarded as a critical technology for superconducting quantum processors due to their ability to lengthen the lifespan of fragile quantum states and reduce energy losses.
The Russian work has been demonstrated on cryogenic microwave resonators, which are critical test structures for superconducting quantum electronics. In accordance with Bauman MSTU, the technology has advanced beyond laboratory experiments and is now in the challenging process of being integrated into serial production. The university has contracted the first deliveries of quantum co-processors that are based on the tantalum platform for autumn 2026.
The research was conducted as part of the Bauman DeepTech strategic technology project on exaflops hybrid computing, which is part of Russia’s Priority-2030 program. The underlying scientific results were published in Applied Physics Reviews in 2026.
Why Tantalum Matters
In superconducting quantum circuits, tantalum is becoming an important alternative to more established materials like aluminum. Nevertheless, the obstacle is that tantalum thin coatings can develop in a variety of crystalline phases. The alpha phase is of particular importance for quantum applications due to its superconducting properties.
The Russian researchers examined the formation of alpha-tantalum on silicon substrates. The mechanisms that govern phase selection during film growth were the focus of their research, which was published as ““Investigation of tantalum film growth for coplanar resonators with internal quality factors above ten million.” The research verified that the formation of alpha-tantalum starts only after the formation of a beta-tantalum sublayer that is approximately 7–10 nanometers thick.
The team conducted over 1,000 experiments to determine the conditions necessary to achieve the desirable material structure. High-resolution microscopy was used to examine the morphology of the films and identify structural features at extremely small scales.
The critical temperatures of the alpha-tantalum films that resulted varied from approximately 3.77 to 4.39 kelvin, contingent upon the thickness of the films. The researchers’ most important achievement was the development of compact tantalum coplanar resonators with an internal quality factor that exceeded 10 million at single-photon excitation power.
A Ten-Million Quality Factor
In superconducting quantum technology, the quality factor is a crucial measure of how little energy a resonator loses. A high quality factor at extremely low excitation levels suggests that electromagnetic energy can be stored for a relatively long period, which is useful for the processing of quantum information.
The Russian team reports a quality factor of approximately 10 million in the single-photon regime. This is a more than tenfold advance over the aluminum-based components that were used as a comparison in the development program, according to Bauman MSTU.
This outcome places Russian technology in the same performance category as leading international tantalum research, though it’s important to distinguish between resonator measurements and overall quantum processor performance.
Researchers at Princeton University reported in 2025 that 45 tantalum-on-silicon transmon qubits had an average quality factor of 9.7 million. The average quality factor of their best qubit was 15 million, with a maximum of 25 million. This corresponds to a measured T1 lifetime of up to 1.68 milliseconds. Additionally, the team demonstrated a single-qubit gate fidelity of 99.994%.
The International Race Is Already Underway
Russia is not alone in pursuing tantalum as a route toward higher-performance superconducting quantum hardware. Researchers at imec in Belgium fabricated tantalum resonators on industrial 300-millimeter silicon wafers. The median internal quality factors were above 40 million, and the peak values exceeded 60 million. The work emphasizes the potential of integrating semiconductor-style wafer processing with tantalum to develop scalable quantum hardware.
This makes the Russian achievement significant not because tantalum itself is new, but because the controlled deposition and integration of tantalum into domestic superconducting circuits are essential for the development of a more extensive indigenous quantum electronics ecosystem.
From Laboratory Resonators to Quantum Co-Processors
The next step will be considerably more difficult. A quantum computer that is functional necessitates multiple interconnected components, such as qubits, Josephson junctions, control circuitry, readout systems, and sophisticated cryogenic infrastructure, in addition to a high-quality resonator.
Russia’s stated objective is to use the new tantalum circuits in hybrid computing architectures. In these systems, conventional supercomputers would operate in conjunction with specialized quantum or other non-classical co-processors. The concept is especially relevant to computationally intensive applications, including artificial intelligence workloads, genomic analysis, materials discovery, and climate modeling.
Superconducting quantum circuits may also have applications beyond computing, such as advanced sensing, microwave detection, and astrophysical instruments.
Why the Autumn 2026 Deliveries Matter
The planned autumn 2026 deliveries could therefore represent a critical transition from materials research to actual hardware deployment. One foundation of Russia’s domestic superconducting quantum-electronics program could be tantalum, provided the production process operates consistently outside of laboratory conditions.
The more extensive challenge will be to scale the technology while maintaining the exceptionally low-loss characteristics demonstrated in experimental devices. The longevity of quantum states and the ability to tolerate computational errors can both be improved by every enhancement in material quality for quantum computers.
The Russian tantalum programme is therefore best viewed as a manufacturing and materials milestone rather than proof that a large-scale quantum computer is already around the corner. However, the technology is among the most significant developments in Russia’s emerging quantum hardware sector, as it has achieved a ten-million quality factor in the single-photon regime and is progressing toward contracted co-processor deliveries.