PRESS RELEASE — Terra Quantum AG, a globally leading quantum technology company, announced today that it has extended its Series A funding round to $75 million, as well as its research offering a ground-breaking solution to the longstanding challenge of efficient power devices for nanoelectronics. Terra Quantum is the first company to reveal the underlying mechanism of ferroelectric-based negative capacitance while also sharing methods for its practical realization. This is a tremendous milestone for hardware design and lays the foundation for next-gen technology.
Terra Quantum’s Series A already marked one of the largest funding rounds achieved in the quantum tech space and the round’s extension brings the total funding raised to a volume of $75m. The fresh capital will go towards strengthening Terra Quantum’s offering around data cryptography and cybersecurity.
The company is exploring the nontrivial physics of ferroelectricity, unleashing immense potential for the next generation of hardware technology. What was viewed as the fundamental law of electricity – as fundamental as the law of gravity – where the bigger electric charge one places on a conductor, the larger electric field this conductor produces around itself. Terra Quantum’s researchers have demonstrated how the opposite effect can be achieved when ferroelectric materials are utilized in a particular manner. Terra Quantum has devised the specific design on one of the most widely used electronic devices, the field-effect transistor, exploiting this phenomenon, known as “negative capacitance.” The breakthrough helps further the miniaturization of electronics. In the 9th issue of Nature Partner Journal: Computational materials, Terra Quantum researchers describe practical design of the ferroelectric nanodots-based negative capacitance field-effect transistor.
The positive implications of Terra Quantum’s breakthrough in the physics of ferroelectricity are innumerable as it facilitates the electronics of the future, especially the long-sought after terahertz frequency-based electronics. In regard to health and safety, advanced terahertz spectroscopy enabled by Terra Quantum’s ferroelectric devices will offer unprecedented diagnostic tools, like non-invasive techniques for the early detection of cancer, ex-vivo spectroscopy and the imaging of tissues (biopsy), preventive healthcare and blood testing, diagnostics of osteoarthritis, arthritis, and many others.
The advantage of the THz-based medical diagnostics is that terahertz photons are not energetic enough to break chemical bonds or ionize biomolecules. Hence, they’re harmless and less invasive for living organisms, particularly in contrast to higher energy photons such as x-rays and UV rays. In the field of advanced microscopic or nanoscale communications, on-chip THz communication elements could provide intra/inter-chip wireless interconnects enabling more compact and efficient designs, new architectures and 6G mobile communications.
Markus Pflitsch, founder and CEO of Terra Quantum says: “The extension of our Series A and our remarkable breakthrough around negative capacitance only further illustrates our strong trajectory and commitment to leading the global quantum revolution. We’re delighted to have even more investors on board who share our vision and I’m filled with pride that the Terra Quantum team has demonstrated exactly how we’re achieving this vision. Terra Quantum is innovating in both the software and hardware space, building the foundation needed for quantum and nano devices that will shape the future of our society. The applications of our research are endless, and we can’t wait to take the next steps to realize them.”
Critical to the development of quantum computers and quantum communications is overcoming the bottlenecks of conventional binary von Neumann architectures. This must be done by exploiting features of the neuroscience principles of biological brains. Building on the discovery of ferroelectric logical units capable of operating within the framework of multi-bit logic, which contrasts with the binary logic of standard computational units, Terra Quantum will implement neuromorphic spiking neural networks.
The future central element of this direction is the representation of the quantum neuro-principles of the human brain, whose incredible efficiency results from the spontaneous formation of quantum spikes that synchronize constitutive qubits. These temporal spikes provide quantum jumps called “enlightenment”, which is the main effect of the human brain that distinguishes it from computers. Using the neuromorphic multi-bit logic of ferroelectric units as a model for qubits, Terra Quantum will provide the hybrid neuromorphic NISQ environment for qubits and reveal the topological architectures that enable the formation of the qubit quantum spikes. This puts in reach emerging technologies as efficient as the human brain.
Valerii Vinokur, CTO of Terra Quantum says: “Our research is another giant leap towards ushering in the next generation of technology. Harnessing negative capacitors and leveraging them in electronic circuits paves the way for a new generation of transistors and optoelectronic resonators. These serve as the foundation of key technologies such as computer chips that power everything from cars to medical equipment. The team at Terra Quantum has worked tirelessly to achieve this, demonstrating our initiative as a technology pioneer and thought leader in the quantum space.”
About Terra Quantum
Terra Quantum is a leading quantum technology company based in Switzerland and is organized as a “Quantum as a Service” company with three core focus areas. The first is Quantum Algorithms as a Service where an extensive library of algorithms are available to customers, such as quantum-based optimization and quantum-based neural networks which can for example be used for pattern recognition for general portfolio optimisations (incl. financial ones). Terra Quantum also develops new algorithms for customers or adapts existing algorithms to their specific needs. The second is Quantum Computing as a Service providing customers with access to its high performing logical qubits to equip them with real quantum advantages already today. The third is Quantum Security as a Service offering quantum security worldwide via its unique quantum secure communication and QKD solutions. Visit Terra Quantum on LinkedIn and at https://terraquantum.swiss
