August 20, 2026 — Cornell's Krypton Fix: Tantalum Heat Drops From 400°C to 200°C
Cornell engineers swap argon for krypton gas and cut tantalum qubit deposition temperature from over 400°C to 200°C — a fabrication fix that could matter more for scaling superconducting quantum chips than another qubit-count record. Plus: a Cambridge theory paper narrows what counts as a real quantum advantage, Caltech watches conformal field theory play out on a Rydberg-atom simulator, and a $3B quantum SPAC merger takes its next regulatory step.
Main story: New ingredient in quantum computing: krypton gas — Cornell Chronicle and Cornell Researchers Lower Tantalum Qubit Deposition…
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