Doron Gurovich, Process Engineer, Unit for Nano Fabrication, Center for Nano Science and Nano Technology
The HUJI Unit for Nano-Fabrication (UNF) is becoming a central infrastructure for quantum device fabrication on campus.
In this context, one of the key quality indicators of a quantum device is its Q-factor, which directly reflects device quality, losses, and ultimately coherence.
Recently, UNF has introduced a dedicated Process Engineer role to support this activity.
The Process Engineer acts as a partner service that balances three elements:
the needs of the labs (device concepts and measurement targets),
the capabilities and limitations of the tools,
and the behaviour of materials and interfaces.
Practically, this means integrating lithography, thin films, etching, surface treatment, and analysis with device-level metrics such as Q-factor, and turning isolated, recipe-based attempts into documented, reusable process flows.
To structure this work, UNF has developed an internal Cluster platform.
A Cluster is a fabrication-centered framework in which several quantum device projects contribute to, and benefit from, a shared set of process blocks, for example,
superconducting films and junctions,
nanophotonic structures,
or vortex-related devices.
Within each Cluster, data and experience from different experiments are pooled to map:
what is currently stable and suitable for routine use,
what is under active development,
where failures and variability tend to appear.
In the talk, I will present the role of Process Engineering at UNF, illustrate how the Cluster platform operates in practice for quantum devices, and outline how groups can interact with this framework when planning new processes, improving yield and Q-factor, or simply gaining better visibility into the fabrication story behind their devices.
Selected publications and IP (device fabrication from design to lab test):
[1] D. Gurovich, K. S. Tikhonov, D. Mahalu, D. Shahar, “Little-Parks oscillations in a single ring in the vicinity of the superconductor–insulator transition,” Phys. Rev. B 91, 174505 (2015).
[2] O. Bechler, A. Borne, S. Rosenblum, G. Guendelman, O. E. Mor, M. Netser, T. Ohana, Z. Aqua, N. Drucker, R. Finkelstein, Y. Lovsky, R. Bruch, D. Gurovich, E. Shafir, B. Dayan, “A passive photon–atom qubit swap operation,” Nat. Phys. 14, 996–1000 (2018).
[3] T. S. Ohana, G. Guendelman, E. Mishuk, N. Kandel, D. Garti, D. Gurovich, O. Bitton, B. Dayan, “Design and fabrication of ultrahigh Q chip-based silica WGM micro-resonators for single-atom cavity-QED,” Opt. Express 32, 43974–43986 (2024).
[4] D. Gurovich, V. Kaploun, A. Teishev, E. Masoud, “Electrophotographic ink compositions,” US 2024/0036490 A1 and related family (charging systems for LEP inks, HP Indigo).
[5] H. M. Tchaicheeyan, A. Teishev, A. Mann, O. Y. Mizrahi, D. Gurovich, V. Kaploun, E. Masoud, “Liquid electrophotographic ink composition,” US 11,960,241 and related family (HP Indigo core LEP ink technology).