IIT Bombay partners with TCS to build India's first quantum diamond microchip imager

India’s largest IT services provider Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announced a strategic partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-Bombay) on Tuesday to develop India's first Quantum Diamond Microchip Imager.

A quantum diamond microchip imager can image magnetic fields, allowing for non-invasive and non-destructive mapping of semiconductor chips, similar to a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at a hospital. This technology is crucial due to the challenges posed by traditional sensing methods in detecting anomalies caused by the shrinking size of semiconductors.

According to an official statement, an indigenous quantum diamond microchip imager, combining quantum diamond microscopy with artificial intelligence/machine learning-powered software imaging, will propel India forward in the quantum revolution. This advanced sensing tool has the potential to enhance precision in examining semiconductor chips, reduce chip failures, and improve the energy efficiency of electronic devices.
 
Semiconductor chips are found in all modern electronic devices, and the two partners aim to make these devices more reliable, safe, and energy-efficient over the next two years. These chips serve as the brain of devices in various industries such as communications, computing, healthcare, military systems, transportation, and clean energy, it added.
 
Experts from TCS will work with Kasturi Saha, an associate professor at the premier technology institute, to develop the quantum imaging platform in the PQuest Lab.
Saha said the two partners will work on a quantum imaging platform for the non-destructive examination of chips, leveraging its expertise in quantum sensing to drive innovation.
 
"By working together, we aim to transform various sectors, including electronics and healthcare, and propel India forward through ground-breaking technologies and products aligned with National Quantum Mission's Quantum Sensing and Metrology vertical," he added.
 
TCS' chief technology officer Harrick Vin said that the 'Second Quantum Revolution' is progressing at an unprecedented speed, making it imperative to pool resources and expertise to build cutting-edge capabilities in sensing, computing, and communication technologies.
 
TCS and IIT-B have collaborated for various initiatives since the 1990s, the statement said, explaining that the imager uses the defects in a diamond's structure, known as Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) centres, together with the other hardware and software for detecting and characterising anomalies in semiconductor chips.
 
Moreover, TCS said that the collaboration between TCS and IIT-Bombay is aligned with the National Quantum Mission — an initiative by the government of India to position the nation as a global quantum technology leader.
 
"These diagnostic capabilities will have significant implications for failure analysis, device development, and various optimisation processes. With its advanced capabilities to identify chip defects such as current leakages and enable visualisation of three-dimensional charge flow in multi-layer chips, quantum diamond microchip imager is a leap forward in semiconductor imaging," it said.
 
"We firmly believe this initiative will have a transformative impact on various industries and society, with applications ranging from electronics to healthcare, and beyond," Vin added.