Cryogenic CMOS for Quantum Computing 2026 — PatSnap Eureka
Cryogenic CMOS for Quantum Computing 2026
Cryo-CMOS has emerged as the central enabler for scaling quantum computers beyond hundreds of qubits by resolving the wiring bottleneck between room-temperature electronics and cryogenic quantum processors. This landscape covers 50+ patent and literature records spanning 2008–2026.
How Cryo-CMOS Enables Quantum Scale-Up
Cryogenic CMOS refers to CMOS integrated circuits designed to operate at temperatures from ~4 Kelvin down to the millikelvin regime. MOS transistors remain operational at these temperatures, exhibiting higher carrier mobility, steeper subthreshold swing, and improved ON-current relative to room temperature, enabling classical control electronics to reside closer to quantum processors.
However, cryogenic operation introduces significant challenges: threshold voltage increases, device mismatch worsens in the subthreshold regime, self-heating becomes severe — with channel temperature rises exceeding 50 K documented at deep-cryogenic ambient temperatures — and hot carrier degradation accelerates, reducing commercial device lifetime at 4.2 K.
Key sub-domains identified across retrieved records include device characterization and compact modeling across nodes from 350 nm to 7 nm, qubit control IC design covering pulse modulators, PLLs, ADCs and DACs, cryogenic memory architectures including SRAM, eDRAM, STT-MRAM and gain-cell DRAM, system integration and cryostat architecture, and RF/microwave low-noise amplifier design.
FDSOI and FinFET process nodes are identified as particularly valuable for cryo-CMOS design because back-gate biasing enables threshold voltage compensation at low temperature. The cryogenic process design kit (PDK) — without which IC designers cannot simulate or verify cryo-CMOS circuits — has emerged as a key competitive moat, with at least three patent filings targeting compact modeling in this dataset.
Innovation Clusters in Cryo-CMOS: Timeline and Circuit Categories
The cryo-CMOS dataset reveals a clear three-phase evolution: foundational SOI-CMOS patents from 2008–2011, a mid-stage characterization and prototype cluster from 2017–2020, and rapid circuit-level and architecture-level expansion from 2021–2026, with at least 10 distinct records from 2024–2026 alone.
Cryo-CMOS Filing Activity by Time Period (2008–2026)
Filing activity accelerated sharply from 2021 onward, with the 2024–2026 window alone contributing at least 10 distinct records — more than any prior comparable interval in this dataset.
↗ Click bars to exploreCryo-CMOS Patent Records by Technology Cluster
System integration and cryogenic memory each represent distinct filing clusters with at least 4 records apiece, while device characterization/modeling and qubit control ICs anchor the foundational and applied layers of the landscape.
↗ Click bars to exploreKey Application Domains for Cryo-CMOS Technology
Cryo-CMOS technology addresses four primary application domains in this dataset: superconducting qubit control, silicon spin qubit control, cryogenic memory for quantum error correction, and high energy physics detector readout — each with distinct circuit requirements and IP activity.
Superconducting Qubit Control
Transmon and superconducting qubits operating at 10–20 mK require microwave pulses in the 4–8 GHz range for gate operations and dispersive readout. The 2019 28 nm bulk-CMOS pulse modulator achieved below 2 mW power consumption, and the 2022 40 nm controller IC achieved pulse modulator verification at 99.99% fidelity specification. Rigetti’s four-patent family on cryostat-integrated control electronics and PsiQuantum’s cryogenic power supply patents (2024, 2026) directly target this domain.
Qubit ControlSilicon Spin Qubit Control
Silicon spin qubits require electrostatic gate control at millikelvin temperatures, with the qubit defined by a single electron spin in a quantum dot. Intel’s 2022 22 nm Quantum SoC demonstrated a 28-cell system at 3.4 K with co-located quantum dot arrays occupying 20×80 nm each. NewSouth Innovations’ foundational SOI-CMOS patents from 2008 and 2011 assert core IP for low-temperature qubit control and readout at 4.2 K.
Qubit ControlCryogenic Memory for QEC
Quantum error correction requires classical logic close to the qubit to handle fast feedback within coherence time. ShanghaiTech University filed four US patent applications between 2024 and 2025 covering gain-cell eDRAM, CIMC accelerators, and the CQS-eDRAM quasi-static topology exploiting cryogenic leakage suppression. The COMPAQT compressed waveform memory architecture (2022) also addresses the bandwidth bottleneck for waveform storage in superconducting qubit controllers.
Cryogenic MemoryHigh Energy Physics Detectors
Several records describe cryo-CMOS readout ASICs for non-quantum cryogenic applications including germanium spectrometers for dark matter and neutrino experiments using 350 nm and 180 nm CMOS nodes (2017), and CUPID bolometric experiment readout (2020). Monitoring cameras for liquid argon detectors (2017) represent a further parallel thread that has historically advanced cryo-CMOS readout ASIC expertise applicable to quantum computing.
Detector ReadoutKey Patent Assignees in Cryo-CMOS for Quantum Computing
In this dataset, 10+ distinct assignees hold relevant cryo-CMOS IP across US, WO, EP, AU, CN, and IN jurisdictions. Innovation is not highly concentrated: Rigetti holds the broadest system integration position with 4 filings, and ShanghaiTech University holds the strongest cryogenic memory position with 4 filings.
Top Assignees by Filing Count — Cryo-CMOS Dataset
↗ Click bars to exploreRigetti & Co., Inc.
Rigetti holds 4 patent records in this dataset — the broadest system-level IP position among all assignees — spanning WO (2020), US (2021), US (2024), and US (2025, pending) jurisdictions. All four filings cover integrating a cryostat hosting qubits with electronics for controlling those qubits, using optical transmission lines between external and internal control modules with radiation-shielded thermal staging. This patent family represents the most comprehensive system integration architecture claims in the cryo-CMOS dataset.
United StatesShanghaiTech University
ShanghaiTech University holds 4 US patent records in this dataset, all filed between 2024 and 2025, covering energy-efficient gain-cell eDRAM, a CQS-eDRAM quasi-static topology using 4T transmission gate gain-cell design exploiting cryogenic leakage suppression, and a CIMC accelerator integrating MAC operations within cryogenic memory arrays. This filing cluster constitutes the most concentrated cryogenic memory IP position in the dataset and creates significant prior art for gain-cell eDRAM and CIMC in cryogenic applications.
China — CNFive Innovation Signals from 2024–2026 Filings
Records published from 2024–2026 in this dataset reveal at least five directional signals, spanning EDA commercialization, cryogenic compute-in-memory, wideband RF circuits, QPU-HPC interfacing, and purpose-built cryogenic transistor architectures.
Cryo-CMOS PDK Commercialization
Semiwise Limited’s two-patent family (WO 2023, US 2025) on TCAD-based cryogenic PDK generation and Soongsil University’s PSP-model method (US 2025) indicate that cryo-CMOS design kit generation is transitioning from academic research to commercial EDA tooling. Southeast University’s 2026 CN filing on a method and system for building CMOS transistor models at extreme cryogenic temperatures reinforces this trend. No major foundry appears as a direct patent assignee in cryo-CMOS tooling in this dataset, making third-party PDK vendors a critical supply chain dependency.
Cryogenic Compute-in-Memory for QEC
ShanghaiTech University’s 2024–2025 filings on CQS-eDRAM and CIMC accelerators represent the leading edge of embedding classical computation — including neural network inference and MAC operations — directly within cryogenic memory arrays. This approach reduces power and latency in quantum error correction feedback loops, where total cooling power budgets at 4 K are measured in watts. The 2022 CryoCiM paper demonstrated a related approach using quantum anomalous Hall effect-based nonvolatile memory.
Rigetti System Integration vs. ShanghaiTech Cryogenic Memory: IP Comparison
Click any row to explore further.
| Dimension | Rigetti & Co., Inc. | ShanghaiTech University |
|---|---|---|
| Filing Count in Dataset | 4 records | 4 records |
| Jurisdictions | WO, US (3 records) | US (all 4 records) |
| Filing Period | 2020–2025 | 2024–2025 |
| Technology Focus | Cryostat-integrated control electronics architecture | Cryogenic memory: gain-cell eDRAM, CIMC accelerators, CQS-eDRAM |
| Key Technical Claim | Optical transmission lines between external and internal control modules with radiation-shielded thermal staging | 4T transmission gate gain-cell topology exploiting cryogenic leakage suppression for quasi-static retention |
| Application Target | Superconducting qubit systems inside dilution refrigerators | Cryogenic memory for quantum error correction feedback loops |
| IP Layer | System integration architecture (broadest claims in dataset) | Circuit and memory topology (concentrated prior art in gain-cell eDRAM) |
| Assignee Type | Commercial quantum computing company (US) | Academic institution (China — CN) |
Frequently Asked Questions: Cryogenic CMOS for Quantum Computing
Cryogenic CMOS refers to CMOS integrated circuits designed to operate at temperatures from approximately 4 Kelvin down to the millikelvin regime. It is needed to resolve the wiring bottleneck — the inability to run thousands of coaxial cables from room temperature to millikelvin — between room-temperature classical electronics and cryogenic quantum processors operating at 10–20 mK.
Rigetti & Co., Inc. holds the broadest system integration IP position with 4 patent records spanning WO (2020), US (2021), US (2024), and US (2025, pending). All four filings cover integrating a cryostat hosting qubits with electronics for controlling those qubits using optical transmission lines and radiation-shielded thermal staging.
Key challenges documented in this dataset include threshold voltage increases, worsening device mismatch in the subthreshold regime, severe self-heating (with channel temperature rises exceeding 50 K at deep-cryogenic ambient temperatures), accelerated hot carrier degradation reducing commercial device lifetime at 4.2 K, and tight cooling power budgets (less than 1 mW at the 100 mK stage).
Multiple nodes have been characterized in this dataset: 350 nm, 180 nm, 40 nm bulk CMOS, 28 nm FDSOI, and 22 nm FDSOI. FDSOI and FinFET nodes are identified as particularly valuable because back-gate biasing enables threshold voltage compensation at low temperature.
ShanghaiTech University filed four US patent applications between 2024 and 2025 covering energy-efficient gain-cell eDRAM, CQS-eDRAM quasi-static topology using a 4T transmission gate gain-cell design, and a CIMC accelerator integrating MAC operations within cryogenic memory arrays. This cluster constitutes the most concentrated cryogenic memory IP position in the dataset and creates significant prior art that will constrain design freedom for competitors.
The earliest formal patent filings trace back to 2008–2011, with foundational work from NewSouth Innovations (now Silicon Quantum Computing) asserting SOI-CMOS circuits for low-temperature qubit control and readout at 4.2 K. These represent the foundational layer of the IP landscape in this dataset.
Data and insights on this page are based on a limited patent and literature dataset and are for reference only. Figures may not represent the complete technology landscape.