Unveiling Majorana 1 Chip by Microsoft

• Majorana1 is Microsoft’s first quantum processor
• The quantum chip is scalable up to a million qubits

What we know on Quantum computing is a super advanced way of processing information or future of data processing. Quantum computers use quantum bits, or qubits.

Microsoft created the first ‘topological qubits’ — a way of storing quantum information which will be cornerstone in new–gen Quantum computers ‘ The Majorana 1’,using Majorana particles, a breakthrough in quantum processing.

What is Majorana Particle?

A new type of material called a topoconductor, also known as topological superconductor is what made Majorana Particle.

This breakthrough required developing an entirely new materials stack made of indium arsenide and aluminum, much of which Microsoft designed and fabricated atom by atom.

Topological qubits are digitally controlled with simple pulses connecting quantum dots to nanowires. This makes operations simpler and less prone to errors.

This breakthrough material allows the development and control of Majorana particles, a special kind of particle that does not exist naturally, but can be formed under specific conditions using superconductors and magnetic fields.

Microsoft aims to make ‘topological’ quantum computers, that will reach and scales faster be more useful than competing technologies.

Classical & Quantum Computing

The essential dissimilarity between classical and quantum computing is that while classical computers use either 1 or 0, quantum computers use qubits, both 1 and 0 simultaneously a case of quantum entanglement. This allows quantum computers to perform multiple calculations simultaneously, a capability known as parallelism.

Here the qubits can be in superposition state, or in multiple states. Making  computations are quicker.

Microsoft’s approach to Majorana 1

To detect parity between particles if spinned by any researcher and repeated, the measurement on its distant, entangled partner, it will found the pair are correlated: if one particle’s spin is up, the other’s will be down.

Microsoft developed a precise method to measure this state, using quantum dots (tiny capacitors), they can detect parity—whether there’s an even or odd number of electrons in the system, in microseconds. This allows them to distinguish between different states, an important step for computation.

The concept of Topological states are collective states of the electrons in a material that are resistant to noise, much like how two links in a chain can be rotated around each other while remaining connected.

Architecture of Majorana 1

The architecture of Majorana 1 is designed with scalability in mind. The chip uses tetrons arranged in arrays (think 4×2 or 27×13 setups), supporting quantum error correction (QEC) via lattice surgery and braiding transformations.

These arrays are designed to be easily integrated into Azure data centers, making the setup much more compact than some rival quantum computers that require sprawling physical spaces.

The February 19 announcement by Microsoft contains few technical details keeping quality in high proposition.

As per Microsoft ‘quantum computer with a million qubits would be far more powerful than all the world’s current computers put together’

“Whatever you’re doing in the quantum space needs to have a path to a million qubits. If it doesn’t, you’re going to hit a wall before you get to the scale at which you can solve the really important problems that motivate us. We have actually worked out a path to a million,” says Chetan Nayak, a Microsoft technical fellow stressing the importance of scalability in quantum computing..

As of now, Majorana 1 is still a research device and has 8 qubits. Topological qubits are hardware-protected, meaning they’re inherently more stable than traditional qubits, which often rely on software-driven error correction. Exact error rates haven’t been disclosed, but early data suggests significant improvements in stability.

From scalability point of view Microsoft claims they have a “clear path” to scaling up to a million qubits. Majorana 1’s design, however, theoretically requires fewer physical qubits to reach the same result as per Microsoft.

Bold move with Microsoft’s Majorana 1

Two-Qubit Device: Demonstrate measurement-based braiding for Clifford operations.

Eight-Qubit Array: Implement error correction on logical qubits.

Larger Arrays: Move toward a fault-tolerant prototype (27×13 tetrons) as part of DARPA’s US2QC program, where Microsoft is a finalist.

Microsoft plans to share Majorana 1 with labs and universities in the coming years for research purposes and claims that Majorana 1 will help “realise quantum computers capable of solving meaningful, industrial-scale problems in years, not decades.”

Microsoft envisions that a million-qubit chip is just the beginning—Nayak believes they’ll need about 1,000 of these chips for true utility-scale impact.

Sources:

Microsoft’s Majorana 1 Explained: The Path to a Million Qubits

Microsoft claims quantum-computing breakthrough — but some physicists are sceptical