Superconducting computing system in a liquid hydrogen environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11266038-B2
Application number	US-202016999217-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 21, 2020
Priority date	Jun 17, 2019
Publication date	Mar 1, 2022
Grant date	Mar 1, 2022

Abstract

Superconducting computing system housed in a liquid hydrogen environment and related aspects are described. An example superconducting computing system includes a housing, arranged inside a liquid hydrogen environment, where a lower pressure is maintained inside the housing than a pressure outside the housing. The superconducting computing system further includes a substrate, arranged inside the housing, having a surface, where a plurality of components attached to the surface is configured to provide at least one of a computing or a storage functionality, and the substrate further comprises a plurality of circuit traces for interconnecting at least a subset of the plurality of the components. The housing is configured such that each of the plurality of components is configured to operate at a first temperature, where the first temperature is below 4.2 Kelvin, despite the liquid hydrogen environment having a second temperature greater than 4.2 Kelvin.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A superconducting computing system comprising:
a housing, arranged inside a liquid hydrogen environment, wherein a lower pressure is maintained inside the housing than a pressure outside the housing, wherein the lower pressure is in a range between 10 −3 Torr to 10 −10 Torr, wherein the liquid hydrogen environment comprises a storage tank including a liquid hydrogen container having liquified hydrogen, and wherein the housing is arranged inside the liquid hydrogen container on a plurality of supports configured to reduce thermal conduction through the plurality of supports; and
a plurality of superconducting components configured to provide at least one of a computing or a storage functionality, arranged inside the housing, wherein a first subset of the plurality of superconducting components comprises a first set of chips attached to a qubit wafer cooled using at least one cold plate coupled to liquid helium, wherein a second subset of each of the plurality of superconducting components comprises a second set of chips attached to a superconducting substrate, wherein the first subset of the plurality of superconducting components and the second subset of the plurality of superconducting components are coupled using thermally-clamped cables configured to maintain a thermal hierarchy, and wherein the housing is configured such that each of the first subset of the plurality of superconducting components and the second subset of the plurality of superconducting components is configured to operate at, or below, a first temperature, and wherein the first temperature is not greater than 4.2 Kelvin, despite the liquid hydrogen environment having a second temperature greater than 4.2 Kelvin.

2. The superconducting computing system of claim 1 , wherein the second temperature is in a range between 20 Kelvin and 24 Kelvin.

3. The superconducting computing system of claim 1 further comprising a thermal shield configured to provide thermal isolation between any of the plurality of superconducting components arranged inside the housing and the liquid hydrogen environment.

4. The superconducting computing system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of superconducting components comprises at least one of a central processing unit, a graphics-processing unit, an artificial-intelligence processor, a field-programmable gate array, an application-specific integrated circuit, an application-specific standard product, a system-on-a-chip, a complex programmable logic device, a static random-access memory, a dynamic random-access memory, or a Josephson magnetic random-access memory.

5. The superconducting computing system of claim 1 , wherein the computing functionality comprises at least one of a central-processing functionality, a graphics-processing functionality, an artificial-intelligence functionality, a gate-array functionality, a memory functionality, or a bus-interface-management functionality and wherein the storage functionality comprises at least one of a memory functionality, a gate-array functionality, a memory controller functionality, or a bus-interface-management functionality.

6. The superconducting computing system of claim 1 , wherein the inside of the housing is accessible via a transfer system.

7. The superconducting computing system of claim 6 , wherein the transfer system comprises an airlock.

8. A superconducting computing system comprising:
a housing, arranged inside a liquid hydrogen environment, wherein a lower pressure is maintained inside the housing than a pressure outside the housing, wherein the lower pressure is in a range between 10 −3 Torr to 10 −1 Torr, wherein the liquid hydrogen environment comprises a storage tank including a liquid hydrogen container having liquified hydrogen, and wherein the housing is arranged inside the liquid hydrogen container on a plurality of supports configured to reduce thermal conduction through the plurality of supports;
a plurality of superconducting components, formed on a substrate, configured to provide at least one of a computing or a storage functionality, arranged inside the housing, wherein a first subset of the plurality of superconducting components comprises a first set of chips attached to a qubit wafer cooled using at least one cold plate coupled to liquid helium, wherein a second subset of each of the plurality of superconducting components comprises a second set of chips attached to a superconducting substrate, wherein the first subset of the plurality of superconducting components and the second subset of the plurality of superconducting components are coupled using thermally-clamped cables configured to maintain a thermal hierarchy, and wherein the housing is configured such that each of the plurality of superconducting components is configured to operate at a first temperature, and wherein the first temperature is not greater than 4.2 Kelvin, despite the liquid hydrogen environment having a second temperature greater than 4.2 Kelvin; and
a thermal shield configured to provide thermal isolation between any of the plurality of superconducting components arranged inside the housing and the liquid hydrogen environment.

9. The superconducting computing system of claim 8 , wherein the second temperature is in a range between 20 Kelvin and 24 Kelvin.

10. The superconducting computing system of claim 7 , wherein each of the plurality of superconducting components comprises at least one of a central processing unit, a graphics-processing unit, an artificial-intelligence processor, a field-programmable gate array, an application-specific integrated circuit, an application-specific standard product, a system-on-a-chip, a complex programmable logic device, a static random-access memory, a dynamic random-access memory, or a Josephson magnetic random-access memory.

11. The superconducting computing system of claim 8 , wherein the computing functionality comprises at least one of a central-processing functionality, a graphics-processing functionality, an artificial-intelligence functionality, a gate-array functionality, a memory functionality, or a bus-interface-management functionality and wherein the storage functionality comprises at least one of a memory functionality, a gate-array functionality, a memory controller functionality, or a bus-interface-management functionality.

12. The superconducting computing system of claim 8 , wherein the inside of the housing is accessible via a transfer system.

13. The superconducting computing system of claim 12 , wherein the transfer system comprises an airlock.

14. A superconducting computing system comprising:
a first storage tank;
a second storage tank containing hydrogen in a liquified state, wherein the second storage tank is arranged inside the first storage tank;
a supply line for supplying hydrogen to the second storage tank;
a boil-off gas discharge line for removing boil-off gas from the second storage tank;
a cryostat wall, arranged inside the second storage tank, wherein a
vacuum is maintained inside a space enclosed by the cryostat wall, wherein the vacuum corresponds to a pressure in a range between 10 −3 Torr to 10 −1 Torr, wherein the space enclosed by the cryostat wall is arranged inside the second storage tank on a plurality of supports configured to reduce thermal conduction through the plurality of supports;

a plurality of superconducting components, arranged inside the cryostat wall, configured to provide at least one of a computing or a storage functionality, wherein a first subset of the plurality of superconducting components comprises a first set of chips attached to a qubit wafer cooled using at l

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Monroe Mark
• Belady Christian L

Classifications

• H10W40/305 Primary

  the fluid being a liquefied gas, e.g. liquid nitrogen · CPC title

• F17C2203/0366

  Cryogen · CPC title

• H05K7/20772

  within server blades for removing heat from heat source · CPC title

• H05K7/20372

  Cryogenic cooling; Nitrogen liquid cooling · CPC title

• H05K7/20236 Primary

  by immersion · CPC title