XQsim: Modeling Cross-Technology Control Processors for 10+K Qbit Qantum Computers

Abstract

© 2022 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to ACM.10+K qubit quantum computer is essential to achieve a true sense of quantum supremacy. With the recent effort towards the large-scale quantum computer, architects have revealed various scalability issues including the constraints in a quantum control processor, which should be holistically analyzed to design a future scalable control processor. However, it has been impossible to identify and resolve the processor's scalability bottleneck due to the absence of a reliable tool to explore an extensive design space including microarchitecture, device technology, and operating temperature. In this paper, we present XQsim, an open-source cross-technology quantum control processor simulator. XQsim can accurately analyze the target control processors' scalability bottlenecks for various device technology and operating temperature candidates. To achieve the goal, we frst fully implement a convincing control processor microarchitecture for the Fault-tolerant Quantum Computer (FTQC) systems. Next, on top of the microarchitecture, we develop an architecture-level control processor simulator (XQsim) and thoroughly validate it with post-layout analysis, timing-accurate RTL simulation, and noisy quantum simulation. Lastly, driven by XQsim, we provide the future directions to design a 10+K qubit quantum control processor with several design guidelines and architecture optimizations. Our case study shows that the fnal control processor architecture can successfully support ~59K qubits with our operating temperature and technology choices.