<h2 id="isPasted">What was announced</h2><p><a href="https://www.dwavequantum.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">D-Wave Quantum</a> launched a beta program on 1 October 2026 for its gate-model quantum computing simulator, a classical emulator announced in June 2026 and built around its dual-rail superconducting qubit technology. Select customers get access through D-Wave's Leap quantum cloud service and Ocean software development kit ahead of general availability. Named participants are the bank BBVA, FirstQFM (which builds foundation models for quantum computing), <a href="https://www.fau.edu/engineering/news/0127-onsite-quantum-computer/">Florida Atlantic University</a> and the <a href="https://www.fz-juelich.de/en/jsc" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Jülich Supercomputing Centre</a>. D-Wave says the dual-rail design uses error detection to deliver error correction with "significantly lower hardware overhead as systems scale." The technology comes from Quantum Circuits Inc., a dual-rail qubit developer co-founded by Yale professor Rob Schoelkopf, which D-Wave acquired in January 2026.<sup>[1][2][3][4]</sup></p><h2 id="isPasted">Why it matters</h2><p>A dual-rail cavity qubit stores one microwave photon shared between two superconducting cavities. Photon loss, the dominant error, leaves both cavities empty: a state outside the code space, detectable without disturbing the logical state. Errors at known locations are erasures, and a code of given distance corrects roughly twice as many of them as errors at unknown locations.<sup>[5]</sup><sup>[6]</sup></p><p>The simulator exposes this to programmers. In QCDL, D-Wave's Python-embedded circuit language, a measurement returns 0, 1 or *, where * marks a qubit detected outside the code space. A non-destructive mced() instruction checks for erasure mid-circuit, conditional blocks can branch on the result, and jobs can post-select erasure-free shots. The simulator's noisy mode applies Pauli errors, leakage and seepage (return into the code space) after gates and idle periods.<sup>[7][8]</sup></p><p><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1790934344026-Screenshot+2026-10-02+at+10-10-59+D-Wave+Quantum+Simulator+-+Future+Access+Request.png" style="width:100%px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" /><span class="fr-inner">D-Wave Quantum Chip</span></span></span></p><p>D-Wave ties the simulator to a controlled-Z (CZ) gate its researchers reported in <em>Nature</em> in August 2026.<sup>[1][9] </sup>On a two-qubit device, the roughly 500 ns gate flagged an erasure in about 0.5% of operations; with erasures discarded, randomized benchmarking gave 0.108% residual error per gate. A surface-code simulation with that error structure gave Λ, the factor by which logical error falls when code distance rises by two, of about 27, against about 14 for 0.1% depolarizing noise. The authors note that model counted only CZ errors and perfect erasure checks; adding single-qubit gate, measurement and idle errors lowers Λ.<sup>[9]</sup></p><p><a href="https://oqc.tech/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Oxford Quantum Circuits</a>, also a dual-rail qubit developer, released Erado in March 2026: an open-source Qiskit-based library whose 16-qubit backend models erasure noise only and returns no per-shot erasure flags.<sup>[10][11][12][13]</sup> Quantum Circuits announced an error-aware simulator with real-time control flow for select customers in June 2024.<sup>[14]</sup> D-Wave's beta reports erasures per shot and mid-circuit, and models Pauli errors too. Its documented targets are 17 and 21 qubits; D-Wave's roadmap lists a 17-physical-qubit system for 2026.<sup>[4][8]</sup></p><p>The beta suits developers testing erasure-aware logic on one hardware model, not large circuits or calibrated fidelity estimates.</p><h2 id="isPasted">Technical Specifications</h2><h3><strong>D-Wave gate-model simulator</strong><strong> (Leap Beta, per Ocean SDK documentation, October 2026)</strong></h3><h2 id="isPasted"><br /></h2><table><thead><tr><th>Spec</th><th>Value</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Emulated hardware</td><td>Dual-rail superconducting cavity qubits</td></tr><tr><td>Maximum circuit size</td><td>21 qubits</td></tr><tr><td>Simulator targets</td><td>DRsim_17qubits, DRsim_21qubits</td></tr><tr><td>Simulation method</td><td>Monte Carlo; runtime O(s·g·2ⁿ) for s shots, g gates, n qubits</td></tr><tr><td>Ideal mode</td><td>State vector, no noise; all Qiskit gates; mced() always returns 0</td></tr><tr><td>Noisy mode</td><td>Pauli errors, leakage and seepage applied randomly after gates and idles; basis gates only; same scaling, slower</td></tr><tr><td>Error injection</td><td>leak and seep instructions (noisy mode)</td></tr><tr><td>Basis gates (noisy mode)</td><td>sx, x, rz, cz</td></tr><tr><td>Measurement outcomes</td><td>0, 1, * (erased)</td></tr><tr><td>Mid-circuit error detection</td><td>mced(), non-destructive</td></tr><tr><td>Classical control</td><td>If, While, DoWhile, For</td></tr><tr><td>Post-selection</td><td>Repeat until the requested number of erasure-free shots is collected</td></tr><tr><td>Shots per job</td><td>1 to 1,000,000 (default 1,000)</td></tr><tr><td>Job time limit</td><td>1 to 2,700 s</td></tr><tr><td>Programming interfaces</td><td>QCDL (Python), Ocean SDK; Qiskit integration (D-Wave fact sheet)</td></tr><tr><td>Access</td><td>Leap cloud service, invited beta</td></tr><tr><td>Noise-model error rates</td><td>Not stated</td></tr><tr><td>Pricing</td><td>On request (Starter and Premium bundles announced June 2026)</td></tr><tr><td>General availability date</td><td>Not stated</td></tr></tbody></table><h3><strong>Dual-rail CZ gate, two-qubit device (<em>Nature</em>, 5 August 2026)</strong></h3><table><thead><tr><th>Spec</th><th>Value</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Gate duration</td><td>About 500 ns</td></tr><tr><td>Detected erasure per CZ gate</td><td>0.53% (repeated Bell-state tomography); 0.69% (interleaved randomized benchmarking)</td></tr><tr><td>Residual error per CZ gate, erasures discarded</td><td>0.108% (interleaved randomized benchmarking)</td></tr><tr><td>Single-qubit gates</td><td>About 0.1% erasure; about 0.01% residual error</td></tr><tr><td>Simulated surface-code Λ</td><td>About 27 (CZ errors only, perfect erasure checks); about 14 for 0.1% depolarizing noise</td></tr></tbody></table><p><sup>Sources: [2][8][9][15][16]</sup></p><p>Everything in the first table describes a classical emulation whose runtime doubles with each added qubit. D-Wave's documentation and fact sheet do not give the error rates or qubit connectivity behind the noise model. That does not block prototyping control flow around erasure flags, but it does limit what noisy-mode results say about hardware fidelity. The gate figures come from a two-qubit device, and Aqumen Seeker, the dual-rail processor Quantum Circuits launched in November 2024, has 8 qubits. Neither is hardware at the 17- or 21-qubit scale the simulator emulates.<sup>[17]</sup></p><p class="highlight-box"><em><strong>Recommended reading:<a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/real-time-quantum-error-decoding-single-cpu-408-logical-qubits"> A Full Quantum Error Correction Stack for 408 Logical Qubits Ran on a Standard CPU</a>.</strong> IonQ's real-time decoder covers the classical side of acting on error information while a computation runs.</em></p><h2>References</h2><ol><li><a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261001196673/en/D-Wave-Launches-Gate-Model-Simulator-Beta-Program-Advancing-Error-Aware-Programming-Capabilities">D-Wave Launches Gate-Model Simulator Beta Program, Advancing Error-Aware Programming Capabilities</a>, D-Wave Quantum via Business Wire, 1 October 2026</li><li><a href="https://www.hpcwire.com/off-the-wire/d-wave-to-launch-gate-model-quantum-simulator-with-dual-rail-error-detection/">D-Wave to Launch Gate-Model Quantum Simulator with Dual-Rail Error Detection</a>, HPCwire, 18 June 2026 (reprint of D-Wave's press release)</li><li><a href="https://www.dwavequantum.com/company/newsroom/press-release/d-wave-to-acquire-quantum-circuits">D-Wave Announces Agreement to Acquire Quantum Circuits Inc.</a>, D-Wave Quantum, 7 January 2026</li><li><a href="https://www.dwavequantum.com/company/newsroom/press-release/d-wave-reports-second-quarter-2026-results/">D-Wave Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results</a>, D-Wave Quantum, 6 August 2026 (includes the gate-model roadmap)</li><li><a href="https://rsl.yale.edu/sites/default/files/2023-teoh-et-al-2023-dual-rail-encoding-with-superconducting-cavities.pdf">Dual-rail encoding with superconducting cavities</a>, Teoh et al., PNAS, 2023 (peer-reviewed; Yale research that preceded the Quantum Circuits hardware)</li><li><a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/2208.05461">Erasure qubits: Overcoming the T1 limit in superconducting circuits</a>, Kubica et al., arXiv, 2022 (AWS Center for Quantum Computing, Caltech and Hebrew University of Jerusalem)</li><li><a href="https://docs.dwavequantum.com/en/latest/ocean/api_ref_gate/index.html">dwave-gate</a>, D-Wave Ocean SDK documentation, version 0.6.0, accessed October 2026</li><li><a href="https://docs.dwavequantum.com/en/latest/ocean/api_ref_gate/workflow.html">Using dwave-gate</a>, D-Wave Ocean SDK documentation, version 0.6.0, accessed October 2026 (simulator modes, parameters and properties)</li><li><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10822-y">An entangling gate for dual-rail erasure qubits</a>, Mehta et al., Nature, 5 August 2026 (peer-reviewed, open access; authors at D-Wave and Yale)</li><li><a href="https://oqc.tech/company/newsroom/oqc-announces-dual-rail-dimon-research">OQC Announces Research on Path to Commercially-Viable Quantum Computers</a>, Oxford Quantum Circuits, 19 June 2025 (company press release)</li><li><a href="https://pypi.org/project/erado">erado</a>, Python Package Index, release history (version 1.0.0 released 11 March 2026)</li><li><a href="https://oqc.tech/resources/making-quantum-errors-visible">Making Quantum Errors Visible: A New Approach to Reliable Quantum Computing</a>, Oxford Quantum Circuits, 1 July 2026 (company blog)</li><li><a href="https://docs.oqc.app/qcaas-sdk/erado_simulator.html">Erado Basic Simulator</a>, OQC QCaaS SDK documentation, accessed October 2026</li><li><a href="https://thequantuminsider.com/2024/06/18/quantum-circuits-developing-quantum-software-platform-with-built-in-qubit-error-detection/">Quantum Circuits Developing Quantum Software Platform With Built-in Qubit Error Detection</a>, The Quantum Insider, 18 June 2024 (reprint of a Quantum Circuits press release)</li><li><a href="https://docs.dwavequantum.com/en/latest/ocean/api_ref_gate/qcdl.html">QCDL API reference</a>, D-Wave Ocean SDK documentation, version 0.6.0, accessed October 2026</li><li><a href="https://www.dwavequantum.com/media/40mpgr3t/gate-model-quantum-simulator.pdf">D-Wave's Gate-Model Quantum Simulator</a>, D-Wave product fact sheet, 2026</li><li><a href="https://quantumcircuits.com/resources/quantum-circuits-accelerates-momentum/">Quantum Circuits Accelerates Momentum Toward Commercial Quantum Computing With New Aqumen Seeker Quantum Processing Unit</a>, Quantum Circuits, 19 November 2024 (company press release)</li></ol>

D-Wave, supplier of quantum computers, has opened a limited cloud beta of a 21-qubit emulator for gate-model hardware it has yet to release.

Dual-rail qubit emulator lets quantum programs act on detected errors

<p>IonQ announced an end-to-end real-time quantum error correction decoder that runs on one off-the-shelf processor, which the company calls an industry first. In benchmark circuits the decoder covered up to 408 logical qubits across 88 memory blocks and magic state factories, the blocks that supply the non-Clifford resources a universal computation needs, executing more than 31.5 million quantum operations. IonQ reports it added "as little as 0.02%" stretch, its term for the extra time a computation spends waiting on decoding.<sup>[1]</sup> The supporting <a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.25027" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">paper by Min Ye, Andrii Maksymov and Nicolas Delfosse</a> gives the range behind that figure: stretch stayed below 0.3% at a two-qubit gate error rate of 1×10⁻⁴, and below 12% at 5×10⁻⁴.<sup>[2]</sup></p><h2>Why it matters</h2><p>A decoder that falls behind the syndrome stream gathers work faster than it clears it. A 2023 review in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/2399-1984/aceba6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" id="isPasted"><em>Nano Futures</em></a> calls this the backlog problem, crediting B. M. Terhal's 2015 analysis, and puts the resulting slowdown at exponential. The same review sets the throughput target at roughly 1 µs per cycle for superconducting transmon qubits, about 1 ms for silicon spin qubits, and beyond 100 ms for ion traps.<sup>[3]</sup></p><p><strong>Timing budget is why a general-purpose processor suffices here:</strong></p><p id="isPasted">IonQ's simulation assumes a syndrome extraction cycle of 1 ms to 5 ms, which the paper attributes to what small trapped-ion devices have achieved.<sup>[2]</sup> For comparison, Riverlane, which builds real-time error correction systems, reported 16.32 µs mean system latency in April 2026 decoding Google's 2024 Willow processor data at distance 5, against the 63 µs Google reported. At microsecond clocks, decoding tends to move into custom hardware: Riverlane credits part of its margin to a Local Clustering Decoder on FPGAs, against what it describes as Google's software decoder.<sup>[4]</sup> A millisecond clock leaves more room for software, though IonQ's 1 ms assumption is still far tighter than the 100 ms that review expected of ion traps.</p><p>Noise binds this result more than qubit count does. Stretch rose by a factor of roughly 35 to 60 across the three workloads when the simulated two-qubit error rate moved from 1×10⁻⁴ to 5×10⁻⁴ (author's calculation from the paper's figures). Tail latency is the mechanism: on the 408-qubit workload at 5×10⁻⁴, the error decoder's worst window took 41.86 ms against the 15 ms available in three committed 5 ms cycles.<sup>[2]</sup> IonQ's Walking Cat architecture, its trapped-ion fault-tolerance blueprint from April 2026, already described a streaming decoder fast enough for online decoding.<sup>[5] </sup>What is new is the complete pipeline measured together, detector error model generation and magic state factories included.</p><h2>Technical Specs: Benchmark workloads and decoding overhead</h2><h2 id="isPasted"><br /></h2><table><thead><tr><th>Parameter</th><th>MIPT</th><th>Heisenberg n64</th><th>Heisenberg n266</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Logical qubits</td><td>102</td><td>102</td><td>408</td></tr><tr><td>Memory blocks</td><td>17×Q70</td><td>17×Q70</td><td>68×Q70</td></tr><tr><td>Magic state factories</td><td>5×CH2</td><td>5×CH2</td><td>20×CH2</td></tr><tr><td>Physical qubits</td><td>not stated</td><td>not stated</td><td>11,680 (memory blocks and factories)</td></tr><tr><td>T gates</td><td>1,087,434</td><td>139,408</td><td>555,130</td></tr><tr><td>Logical measurements</td><td>1,100,227</td><td>327,066</td><td>1,318,310</td></tr><tr><td>Total syndrome cycles</td><td>24,755,302</td><td>6,965,200</td><td>31,548,792</td></tr><tr><td>Syndrome cycle budget</td><td>1 ms</td><td>1 ms</td><td>5 ms</td></tr><tr><td>Stretch at p&lt;sub&gt;CNOT&lt;/sub&gt; 1×10⁻⁴</td><td>0.24%</td><td>0.18%</td><td>0.02%</td></tr><tr><td>Stretch at p&lt;sub&gt;CNOT&lt;/sub&gt; 5×10⁻⁴</td><td>11.53%</td><td>10.25%</td><td>0.72%</td></tr><tr><td>Error decoder mean / max per window at 5×10⁻⁴</td><td>1.89 / 13.68 ms</td><td>1.85 / 11.62 ms</td><td>5.97 / 41.86 ms</td></tr><tr><td>Decoding hardware</td><td>Apple M4 Max, 12 of 16 cores (8 error, 4 outcome)</td><td>same</td><td>same</td></tr></tbody></table><p><sup>Source: [2]</sup></p><p>Every performance figure in the table comes from simulation: syndromes were generated by a circuit-level noise model, and the paper reports no run against physical hardware. It also substitutes a stabilizer state for the physical magic state during initial preparation, a simplification the authors say suits a decoder-load benchmark, leaving output fidelity untested. The headline 0.02% belongs to the workload with a 5 ms cycle, five times the budget of the 102-qubit runs, so its clock flatters the result. The announcement's 31.5 million figure matches that workload's syndrome cycle count exactly; the paper lists 1,318,310 logical measurements and 555,130 T gates. For anyone sizing a control stack, the worst-case window matters more than the mean: backlog clears only by postponing the next cat-based measurement, so tail latency sets the logical clock.</p><p><strong><em>Recommended Reading:</em></strong><em><a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/the-quantum-web-interconnecting-quantum-processors-for-larger-scale-machines" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong> The Quantum Web: Interconnecting Quantum Processors for Larger-Scale Machines</strong></a><strong>.</strong> How linking processors raises qubit counts and system-wide fault tolerance, the scaling route this decoding work is meant to support.</em></p><h2>References</h2><ol><li><a href="https://www.ionq.com/news/ionq-demonstrates-industrys-first-end-to-end-real-time-quantum-error-decoder" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">IonQ Demonstrates Industry's First End-to-End Real-Time Quantum Error Decoder</a>, IonQ press release, 22 September 2026.</li><li><a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.25027" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Real-time decoder for a MegaQuOp quantum computer using a single CPU</a>, Min Ye, Andrii Maksymov, Nicolas Delfosse, arXiv preprint (not peer reviewed), 25 August 2026, revised 3 September 2026.</li><li><a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.00054" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Real-Time Decoding for Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing: Progress, Challenges and Outlook</a>, Battistel et al., peer-reviewed review article in <em>Nano Futures</em> 7 032003, 2023.</li><li><a href="https://www.riverlane.com/news/riverlane-s-real-time-qec-system-performance" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Riverlane's real-time QEC system achieves 10x lower latency than Google's reported results</a>, Riverlane technical update, 9 April 2026.</li><li><a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.19481" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing with Trapped Ions: The Walking Cat Architecture</a>, Tripier et al., arXiv preprint, 22 April 2026.</li></ol>

Simulated trapped-ion workloads show the classical decoding layer keeping pace with millisecond syndrome cycles, with the overhead set mainly by the physical two-qubit error rate.

A Full Quantum Error Correction Stack for 408 Logical Qubits Ran on a Standard CPU

<h2 id="isPasted">What is the announcement</h2><p>NTT Advanced Technology and EV Group announced that they have jointly evaluated NH762, one grade in NTT-AT's NH700 series of UV-curable high-refractive-index resins, on EVG's SmartNIL nanoimprint process using EVG's NIL UV/AS5 working stamp material. The two companies report replication of 350 nm line-and-space structures, 45 degree slanted diffraction gratings, and meta-optical elements down to 65 nm minimum feature size, without defects or deformation, plus a 25-imprint run in which pattern height changed by about 2.2%. The NH700 series is specified at refractive indices of 1.8 and 1.9, in cured films 200 nm to 1 µm thick. The master mould came from Techsendo Photomask.<sup>[1][2]</sup></p><h2>Why does it matter</h2><p>A high-index resin is not what sets an AR display's field of view. The waveguide substrate carries the light, and the grating sitting on top of it has to match that substrate's index, because a mismatch costs light at the interface.<sup>[5]</sup> Getting there is a materials problem with a known ceiling. These resins reach their index by loading the polymer with metal oxide nanoparticles, and the two usual choices pull against each other: titanium oxide raises the index but is photocatalytic and degrades the resin under ultraviolet light, while zirconium oxide is stable and struggles to carry a formulation past 1.8.<sup>[6]</sup> Light resistance, not index, is what these materials fail on.</p><p>NTT-AT said as much in its own words when it launched a 1.9-index nanoimprint resin in August 2024, reporting that photostability falls off sharply above 1.9 compared with resins at 1.8 or below.<sup>[3]</sup> Competitors sit in the same band and say where they measured it. HighRI Optics publishes 1.8 to 2.00 at 590 nm, and Pixelligent's PixNIL SCS1 is 1.86 at 589 nm, already tested on an EVG SmartNIL system. Nor is a matched 1.9-index polymer on EVG equipment new: Schott, Inkron, EV Group and the waveguide designer WaveOptics imprinted one onto 1.9-index glass wafers in January 2020.<sup>[7][8][9]</sup></p><p>What moves here is the difficult end of replication. A 45 degree slanted grating is an undercut structure, so releasing the stamp without tearing it is where heavily loaded formulations tend to fail, and the master mould decides whether the geometry can be made at all, since it has to be produced by tilted-angle etching before anything can be copied from it.<sup>[10]</sup> Reporting slanted gratings and 65 nm meta-optics alongside a 2.2% height drift over 25 consecutive imprints puts public numbers on the step that usually stays behind a customer agreement, which is what a process engineer choosing a resin and working-stamp pair actually needs.</p><h2>Technical specifications</h2><div><table><thead><tr><th>Spec</th><th>Value</th><th>Source</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Material</td><td>NH762, from NTT-AT's NH700 series of UV-curable high-refractive-index resins</td><td>Release<sup>[1]</sup></td></tr><tr><td>Refractive index, NH700 series cured film</td><td>1.8, 1.9</td><td>Release; product page<sup>[4]</sup></td></tr><tr><td>Refractive index of NH762 specifically, and its measurement wavelength</td><td>Not stated</td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td>Cured film thickness</td><td>200 nm to 1 µm, typically 300 nm</td><td>Release</td></tr><tr><td>Transmittance</td><td>Greater than 90%, including reflection loss</td><td>Product page</td></tr><tr><td>Haze</td><td>Below 0.1%</td><td>Product page</td></tr><tr><td>Imprint process</td><td>EVG SmartNIL with EVG NIL UV/AS5 working stamp</td><td>Release</td></tr><tr><td>Structures replicated</td><td>350 nm line and space, 45 degree slanted gratings, meta-optics to 65 nm minimum feature</td><td>Release</td></tr><tr><td>Consecutive imprint stability</td><td>About 2.2% change in pattern height over 25 imprints</td><td>Release</td></tr><tr><td>Environmental testing</td><td>Damp-heat and light exposure, changes described as extremely small</td><td>Release</td></tr><tr><td>Damp-heat and light-exposure test conditions and duration</td><td>Not stated</td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td>Imprint throughput and substrate used</td><td>Not stated</td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td>Master mould</td><td>Techsendo Photomask</td><td>Japanese release<sup>[2]</sup></td></tr></tbody></table></div><p>NH762 cannot be specified from what has been published. Its index is given only as the 1.8 and 1.9 of the series, with no measurement wavelength, and a resin's index varies with wavelength: NTT-AT's distributor data quotes a range rather than a point value for other grades in the family.<sup>[11]</sup> Matching a substrate needs both the grade and the wavelength. The rest is narrower. The environmental results arrive without conditions or duration, which weakens the durability claim without unsettling it, and 25 imprints is real evidence of release performance that has simply not been carried as far as a production working stamp's service life.</p><h2>Recommended reading</h2><p><em><a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/display-technologies-for-augmented-and-virtual-reality"><strong>Display technologies for Augmented and Virtual Reality</strong></a><strong>.</strong> How diffractive waveguides and the surface relief gratings this resin is imprinted into actually work.</em></p><h2>References</h2><ol><li><a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260909275791/en/NTT-AT-and-EVG-Demonstrate-the-Feasibility-of-Applying-High-Refractive-Index-Resins-to-AR-Optical-Devices-Using-the-SmartNIL-Process">NTT-AT and EVG Demonstrate the Feasibility of Applying High-Refractive-Index Resins to AR Optical Devices Using the SmartNIL Process</a>, NTT Advanced Technology and EV Group via Business Wire, 9 September 2026.</li><li><a href="https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000388.000023654.html">NTT-AT and EVG joint evaluation, Japanese-language release</a>, NTT Advanced Technology via PR Times, 8 September 2026. Carries the master mould attribution that the English version does not.</li><li><a href="https://www.ntt-at.com/news/docs/release240830-e.pdf">A high-refractive index resin for nanoimprinting with excellent photostability has been developed</a>, NTT Advanced Technology, 30 August 2024.</li><li><a href="https://keytech.ntt-at.com/en/adhesive/high-n.html">High refractive index resin</a>, NTT Advanced Technology product page.</li><li><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0030399221001894">Solvent-free, transparent, high-refractive index ZrO2 nanoparticle composite resin for scalable roll to roll UV-nanoimprint lithography</a>, Optical Materials, 2021. Peer-reviewed study of index tuning by nanoparticle loading and of substrate index matching.</li><li><a href="https://sanyo-chemical-solutions.com/products/hilucis/">UV-Curable Nanoimprint Resin with High Refractive Index "HILUCIS"</a>, Sanyo Chemical. Technical page setting out the titanium oxide and zirconium oxide tradeoff.</li><li><a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023SPIE12449E..05P/abstract">Ultra-high refractive index materials for patterning diffractive optical elements with nanoimprint lithography</a>, HighRI Optics, SPIE Proceedings, 2023.</li><li><a href="https://www.evgroup.com/fileadmin/media/products/NIL/EVG_Pixelligent_White_Paper_Final.pdf">High Index, UV Stable NIL Formulation for AR Waveguides</a>, EV Group and Pixelligent. Joint vendor white paper.</li><li><a href="https://www.evgroup.com/company/news/detail/schott-inkron-evg-and-waveoptics-global-ar-leaders-team-up-to-enable-next-gen-waveguides-at-photonics-west-1580308811">SCHOTT, Inkron, EVG, and WaveOptics: Global AR leaders team up to enable next-gen waveguides at Photonics West</a>, EV Group, January 2020.</li><li><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39573418/">Fabrication of slanted gratings with high refractive index starting from master nanoimprint mold</a>, PubMed listing, 2024. Peer-reviewed study of why the master mould governs slanted-grating nanoimprint.</li><li><a href="https://shop.amstechnologies.com/Nano-Imprint-Lithography-Resins/SW11654">Nano Imprint Lithography Resins</a>, ams Technologies. Distributor listing for NTT-AT resins, quoting index as a wavelength-dependent range.</li></ol>

The NH762 grade from NTT-AT reached 65 nm meta-optical features on EV Group's SmartNIL imprint process, with pattern height moving about 2.2% across 25 consecutive imprints.

Feasibility of applying high-refractive-index resins to AR optical devices demonstrated

<h2>A way to build optical isolators directly onto silicon photonics chips:</h2><p>Kyocera and the Research Institute of Electrical Communication at Tohoku University have announced a way to build optical isolators directly onto silicon photonics chips. A 915 nm diode laser crystallises magneto-optical garnet inside a 700 micrometre square region, in place of the whole-chip heat treatment above 600 °C that would damage silicon waveguides and metal electrodes. The demonstrated asymmetric Mach-Zehnder device reaches an isolation ratio of 13.6 dB, which the two organisations describe as cutting back-reflected light by about 95%. The work appeared in IEEE Access on 2 September 2026.<sup>[1][2]</sup></p><p><sup><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzg5NTY1NTkwMjkyLUZpZ3VyZV8yX1ByZXNzRU5fMjYwODA3YS5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width:100%px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" /></sup><br /></p><h2>Why does it matter</h2><p>Isolation here comes from interference. A garnet film above the waveguide gives light a different propagation constant depending on which way it travels, so an asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer can be set to combine forward light constructively and backward light destructively. Getting garnet onto silicon has been the obstacle for years. A 2022 review lists high annealing temperature as one of the two material problems in the field, and notes that these have kept optical isolation in discrete modules assembled by physically picking and placing bulk garnet pieces.<sup>[3]</sup> </p><p>The local anneal works: a 915 nm beam held the substrate at 730 °C for 1900 seconds over a 700 micrometre square, and aluminium test pads at the chip edge came through without melting or delaminating. However, the garnet had to be divided into micrometre-scale trenches, because laser annealing an area larger than a square millimetre cracks the film. Those trenches then account for 6.3 dB of the 9.5 dB propagation loss, almost all of it at the trench facets. The step that makes the method possible is the step that costs the light, and the proposed ways out are backfilling the trench with silicon dioxide or removing it altogether.<sup>[2]</sup></p><p>Set against that, the Faraday rotation of 0.092 degrees per micrometre is a real gain over the same group's earlier laser-annealed Ce:YIG at 0.01, and sits inside the 0.021 to 0.113 that other deposition methods report.<sup>[2]</sup> Their June 2026 device, built on nanocomposite garnet without laser annealing, reached 18.7 dB of isolation.<sup>[4]</sup> This one is also not magnet-free: it needs 220 mT in-plane from samarium cobalt magnets, which is the second design problem the 2022 review names. Bonding garnet onto a silicon waveguide reached 21 dB back in 2008, and packaged discrete isolators sell at better than 30 dB for under 1 dB of loss.<sup>[2][3][5][6]</sup></p><h2>Technical specifications: <strong>asymmetric Mach-Zehnder isolator, 100 micrometre trench</strong></h2><div><table><thead><tr><th>Spec</th><th>Value</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Isolation ratio</td><td>13.6 dB at 1540 nm, TM polarisation</td></tr><tr><td>Insertion loss</td><td>20.4 dB</td></tr><tr><td>Propagation loss</td><td>9.5 dB</td></tr><tr><td>Propagation loss breakdown</td><td>Trench process 6.3 dB (66%), Ce:YIG loading 2.6 dB (27%), Mach-Zehnder formation 0.64 dB (7%)</td></tr><tr><td>Faraday rotation</td><td>0.092 degrees per micrometre</td></tr><tr><td>External magnetic bias</td><td>Required. 220 mT in-plane at the chip, from samarium cobalt magnets</td></tr><tr><td>Magneto-optical film</td><td>Ce:YIG, 195 nm thick, ion beam sputtered, no seed layer</td></tr><tr><td>Waveguide</td><td>180 nm by 550 nm, silicon on insulator, commercial photonics process</td></tr><tr><td>Trench</td><td>100 by 20 micrometres, short axis tilted 45 degrees</td></tr><tr><td>Anneal</td><td>915 nm diode laser, 700 micrometre square, 730 °C held 1900 s, below 80 Pa, no scanning</td></tr><tr><td>Interface</td><td>About 10 nm Ce/Fe/Y/SiO2 boundary region at the Ce:YIG and silicon interface</td></tr><tr><td>Measurement</td><td>1520 to 1610 nm sweep, chip held at 25 °C</td></tr><tr><td>Product, price, commercialisation date</td><td>not stated</td></tr></tbody></table></div><p><sup>Sources: [1][2]</sup></p><p>The loss is the constraint here and it's clear where it appears: two thirds of the propagation loss sits in the trench process, almost all of that at the trench facets. The Ce:YIG contribution traces to the roughly 10 nm interface layer, whose absorption runs three orders of magnitude higher than the crystallised garnet, so both major terms are fabrication artefacts rather than properties of the material. Two constraints sit outside the loss budget and are harder to engineer away: the bias magnets have to fit wherever the chip goes, and the anneal occupied one 700 micrometre square for 1900 seconds without scanning.</p><p><strong><em>Recommended Reading:</em></strong><em> </em><a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/silicon-photonics-a-comprehensive-guide-to-the-future-of-optical-communications"><em>Silicon Photonics: A Comprehensive Guide to the Future of Optical Communications</em></a><em>. Background on the platform, including how silicon waveguides are built and why loss matters.</em></p><h2>References</h2><ol><li><a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260910368647/en/Worlds-First-Kyocera-and-Tohoku-University-Develop-Technology-to-Integrate-Optical-Isolators-Directly-onto-Silicon-Photonics-Chips1">World's First: Kyocera and Tohoku University Develop Technology to Integrate Optical Isolators Directly onto Silicon Photonics Chips</a>, Kyocera and Tohoku University via Business Wire, 10 September 2026.</li><li><a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.20964">Monolithic Magneto-Optical Mach-Zehnder Isolator Using Laser-Annealed Iron Garnet on a Silicon Waveguide</a>, Sugita et al., arXiv preprint of the IEEE Access paper, 23 July 2026. Published in IEEE Access, 2 September 2026.</li><li><a href="https://opg.optica.org/ome/abstract.cfm?uri=ome-12-2-697">Review of integrated magneto-optical isolators with rare-earth iron garnets for polarization diverse and magnet-free isolation in silicon photonics</a>, Srinivasan and Stadler, Optical Materials Express, 25 January 2022. Peer-reviewed review of why garnet integration is hard.</li><li><a href="https://www.tohoku.ac.jp/en/press/silicon_compatible_nanocomposite_garnet_enables_better_simpler_optical_isolators.html">Silicon-Compatible Nanocomposite Garnet Enables Better, Simpler Optical Isolators</a>, Tohoku University, 16 June 2026. University summary of the same group's earlier paper in ACS Applied Optical Materials.</li><li><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234944569_Magneto-optical_isolator_with_silicon_waveguides_fabricated_by_direct_bonding">Magneto-optical isolator with silicon waveguides fabricated by direct bonding</a>, Shoji, Mizumoto et al., Applied Physics Letters, 2008.</li><li><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/optical-isolator">Optical Isolator</a>, ScienceDirect Topics. Overview of commercially available packaged isolator performance.</li><li><a href="https://opg.optica.org/optica/fulltext.cfm?uri=optica-6-4-473&amp;id=408948">Monolithic integration of broadband optical isolators for polarization-diverse silicon photonics</a>, Optica, April 2019. Monolithically integrated TE and TM isolators on silicon and silicon nitride.</li></ol>

Microscopic image of the optical isolator fabricated and integrated onto a silicon photonics circuit by laser annealing

A laboratory device reaches 13.6 dB of isolation at 1540 nm, with heat confined to a window 700 micrometres across instead of the whole wafer going through a furnace.

Laser annealing builds an optical isolator into a silicon photonics chip

<p id="isPasted">After a closet cleanout, what options are there for recyling our old threads? Not many. Apart from bringing used clothes to a donation center, there is no process for recycling textiles like there is for bottles and cans. And, the average American throws out around 81 pounds of clothing each year. That amounts to more than 11 million tons of textiles that end up in the landfill or incinerator. </p><p>But MIT engineers hope to cut down on the growing mountain of textile waste, with a new, recyclable yarn. </p><p>The team has designed a yarn made from a form of plastic that is commonly used in milk bottles and grocery bags. The new yarn, which has a feel similar to traditional sewing thread, can be woven into stretchy, lightweight clothing. The researchers say that at the end of its use, a yarn-spun garment could be melted down and redrawn into new yarn, and then woven into new clothing or even cast into buttons, belt buckles, and other plastic accessories.</p><p>To demonstrate the yarn’s recyclability, the researchers spun a spool of yarn, melted the yarn down, and respun it into new yarn, multiple times. They found that even after 10 cycles, the yarn was as strong and flexible as conventional thread. </p><p>They envision the new yarn could be an alternative to elastic spandex-polyester or spandex-nylon yarns, which are spun from a combination of fibers that cannot be recycled together. The team’s new yarn, in contrast, is made from a specific combination of plastic materials that mimics the tough and stretchy properties of spandex yarns, while also being easily recycled. </p><p><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1785237112025-1785237112025.png" class="fr-fic fr-dib" /><span class="fr-inner">A comparison shows that, like typical commercial fibers, the new yarn is just as stretchy.<br /><br />Credit: Courtesy of the researchers<br /><br /></span></span></span></p><p id="isPasted">“Eighty percent of textiles on the U.S. market currently contain some amount of spandex, which makes them nonrecyclable,” says Svetlana Boriskina, a research scientist in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. “There’s no widely adopted technology now that recycles textiles into textiles. With our new yarn, we hope to change that.”</p><p>Boriskina and her colleagues have published the details of the new yarn in a study <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/amlcef/article-abstract/doi/10.1021/acsmaterialslett.6c00337/5232302/Polyethylene-Based-Thermo-Mechanically-Recyclable" target="_blank">published in the journal <em>ACS Materials Letters</em></a>. MIT co-authors include first author SeongHyeon Kim, Duo Xu, Volodymyr Korolovych, Domingo Flores-Hernandez, Kaniz Moriam, and Daniel Braconnier.</p><p><strong>The core of the problem</strong></p><p>Spandex is a polyurethane-based synthetic fiber that is springy but not very strong. A thread of an elastic yarn is made from two parts: a spandex-based core, surrounded by a sheath of tough polyester or nylon. The combination of these materials gives elastic yarns their unique stretch and strength. </p><p>But this same material mixture makes elastic yarns nearly impossible to recycle. Yarns would first have to be chemically treated to separate the polyester sheath from the spandex core. The polyester-based sheath material could then be melted down and reused. But there is no way to recycle the yarn as a whole, without chemical separation.</p><p>“Even though chemical separation technologies exist, they add extra cost and complexity, and usually require toxic chemicals that are harmful to the environment,” Boriskina says. “That’s why most stretchy garments go to the dump.”</p><p>In 2021, Boriskina’s group developed a new type of <a href="https://news.mit.edu/2021/plastic-bags-recycle-fabrics-0315" target="_blank">yarn made from polyethylene</a>. Polyethylene is the most common type of plastic in the world, used to make everything from grocery bags, water bottles, trash bins, and toys to industrial pipes and plastic sheeting. Polyethylene is a thermoplastic, meaning that it can be melted down and remade, and thus recycled. </p><p>And yet, polyethylene had never really been considered as a textile. In their previous work, Boriskina and her colleagues showed they could spin yarn out of polyethylene, which they then wove into various garments. In those experiments, they focused on the yarn’s moisture wicking, stain-resisting, and cooling properties. </p><p><strong>Spaghetti yarn</strong></p><p>In their new study, the group aimed to tailor polyethylene yarn to mimic the strength and flexibility of spandex; they also sought to demonstrate the yarn’s recyclability. </p><p>They first looked for formulations of stretchy, polyethylene-based copolymers that resemble a spandex elastic core. Separately, they engineered polyethylene yarns that can act as the sturdier sheath. Looking through the scientific literature and combing through industrial reports, the team evaluated many chemical variations of polyethylene.</p><p>“The chemical structure of polyethylene is like Christmas garland — a backbone of carbon, carbon, carbon, and also these dangling ‘decorations’ of hydrogen atoms or short branches with the same structure as a backbone,” Boriskina explains. “How these chains are arranged can change the properties of the whole structure.”</p><p>“Polyethylene can give us a wide range of properties, depending on how you make it,” adds first author SeongHyeon Kim.</p><p>For the yarn’s core, the team used one polyethylene-based resin that results in a more stretchy fiber. They chose a second, stiffer resin as the basis for the yarn’s sheath. The researchers obtained pellets of each resin from a chemical manufacturer, and then put each type of pellet through a process of fiber fabrication, first pouring them into a hopper, then heating the pellets to about 350 degrees Fahrenheit, past their melting temperature. The melted polyethylene was then drawn through small extruders to make hair-thin fibers. </p><p>“You just melt it in a barrel with a heater, and then you extrude and spin it into fibers,” Kim says. “It’s like a spaghetti machine.”</p><p>The team used an industrial yarn spinner to wind the sheath fibers around a core fiber to make the final, elastic yarn. </p><p>Because both the yarn’s core and sheath come from the same chemical family of polyethylene, Boriskina says the materials do not have to be separated before recycling, in contrast to spandex-based elastic yarns. The new yarn can be melted as is, and reformed into new yarn or other plastic products.</p><p><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1785237185318-1785237185318.png" class="fr-fic fr-dib" /><span class="fr-inner">“There’s no widely-adopted technology now that recycles textiles into textiles. With our new yarn, we hope to change that,” says Svetlana Boriskina. These two SEM images compare a conventional elastic yarn made of PET-spandex (left) with a new type of recyclable made from two types of recyclable polyethylene. Credit: Courtesy of the researchers</span></span></span></p><p id="isPasted">“Because they are exactly the same chemistry, they play nicely together,” she says. “That’s what makes this yarn very recyclable.”</p><p>As a demonstration, the team twisted an elastic core-sheath yarn, then melted it down and re-spun it, 10 times. Each time, they tested the yarn’s mechanical properties by precisely stretching a thread and measuring the pulling force at which the thread eventually broke. From these tests, they found that the yarn’s recycled versions were just as strong as the original sheath yarn. These recycled yarns can now be used to make new stetchy yarns by twisting them around a newly spun elastic core.</p><p>“Now we have something that can be knitted and woven,” Boriskina says. “That is the next stage.”</p><p>The team says their new recipe for polyethylene yarn can be scaled up into industrial-sized spools. Just like conventional spandex fibers, it would take kilometers of yarn to weave a single textile. But once woven and used, the team envisions that a polyethylene garment could conceivably be dropped in a recycling bin and sent to a facility to be melted down and respun, enabling a more sustainable, circular fashion and textile economy. </p><p>“Hopefully it will prevent the need for making more and more textile materials, because you can keep recycling a large portion of it,” Boriskina says. </p><p>This work was supported in part by the DEVCOM Soldier Center through the U.S. Army Research Office, the Office of Naval Research Global via Tecnologico de Monterrey, and the MIT Portugal Program.</p>

Melt it, spin it, use it again. This new recyclable yarn is as strong and stretchy as spandex-based yarns.

MIT engineers design recyclable elastic yarn

<p id="isPasted"><strong>When does a soccer team really face a crisis – and in which situations is the dismissal of a coach nothing but an over-hasty reaction? In a recently published study, researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) describe the development of a system that objectively measures crises in professional soccer. Based on three crisis indicators derived from real-world soccer characteristics, it is possible to accurately capture the performance level of a team and detect critical phases at an early stage. The results are published in the German Journal of Exercise and Sport Research (DOI: 10.1007/s12662-025-01078-1 ).</strong></p><p>In their study, the KIT researchers show how mathematical models can be used to map emotional and mental processes in sports. Mathematics is used here as a medium to track down team dynamics. “We want to understand when and why a team enters a state of crisis and how such phases can be predicted by looking at objective data,” says Professor Darko Jekauc, sports psychologist at KIT’s Institute of Sports and Sports Science (IFSS), who headed the study. “Our indices translate expectations and actual results into mathematical key indicators that reflect psychological processes such as change of mood, confidence, and performance dynamics.”</p><p>After analyzing the matches played in the 2023/2024 Bundesliga season, the research team came up with three key indicators: “Relative Position” (RP) quantifies how a team falls short of the expected place in the standings, taking its market value and last season’s performance into account. “Linear Rate of Change” (LRC) shows long-term overperformance or underperformance trends. “Exponential Rate of Change” (ERC) captures recent performance variations and provides insight into the psychological momentum of a team. In particular, the ERC value proved to be a valuable early-stage indicator: In nearly all cases, this value dropped significantly before coaches were dismissed. “A sudden decline in ERC reflects a loss of energy and collective belief. This exactly signals the tipping point in dynamics, turning a mere feeling of uncertainty into a true crisis,” Jekauc says.</p><p><strong>Golden Ratio as a Means of Crisis Prevention  </strong></p><p>The crisis indicator ERC is based on phi, a value denoting the so-called Golden Ratio. This classic concept is applied in mathematics, art, and architecture as well as natural sciences – for example, when describing black hole dynamics or when modeling the demographic development. Now, the study is drawing attention to parallel phenomena in psychological processes.</p><p>The new crisis indicators can be applied in a wide variety of fields. A club’s management can use them to monitor performance trends over the season and react to imminent downturns at an early stage. They facilitate data-driven decisions on training, team leadership, and communication issues. Sports psychologists can use them as a tool to promote mental strength and team resilience in a targeted manner and to provide scientific support during a crisis. “It is not our aim to take the emotion out of soccer,” says Jekauc. “However, we want to show that even passion, pressure, and confidence levels can be mapped as mathematical patterns. If we understand these patterns, we cannot only anticipate, but also prevent crises.”</p>

KIT researchers have developed first early-warning system that quantifies team performance drops and identifies crises at an early stage

New Crisis Management Model for Professional Soccer

<h2 id="isPasted">Reliability is a Design Discipline</h2><p>Much of semiconductor innovation is measured by what a device can do at its limits. <strong>SimpleChips</strong> measures innovation by what a system can be trusted to do over time.</p><p>With high-voltage, electronics problems surface slowly through drift, nonlinearity, thermal behavior, or edge conditions that only appear after years in the field. In critical systems, from electrified powertrains to medical devices, these effects often outweigh peak performance. They determine whether a system remains predictable, serviceable, and safe long after it has been deployed.</p><p>SimpleChips was built around this reality. One of the company’s focuses is on high-voltage mixed-signal ICs for environments where tolerance stackups, component aging, and system-level interactions define success or failure. Its work is shaped by applications where reliability is not a specification but a requirement, and where simplifying a system adds value by making it more reliable.</p><p>That perspective is grounded in experience. It reflects decades of experience designing and manufacturing silicon for demanding environments, and a deliberate choice to work on problems few others are willing or able to address.</p><h2>Reliability Understanding Starts Where Things Broke</h2><p>This systems-oriented mindset is closely tied to the background of SimpleChips’ founder, CEO, and CTO, <strong>Alain R. Comeau </strong>(M. Sc.). Trained as a physicist at the University of Sherbrooke, Mr. Comeau began his career inside semiconductor fabrication facilities, working in yield engineering and process integration. Those early years left a lasting impression.</p><p>Working in fabs meant tracing problems from observed symptoms back to their root causes. It meant seeing how small variations in process or design assumptions could propagate into field failures. Mr. Comeau often describes this as “<strong>detective work</strong>,” an exercise which forces engineers to look beyond nominal operation and focus on where systems break down. Over time, this experience built a global view of semiconductor behavior across design, manufacturing, and long-term reliability.</p><p>That perspective, and the related successes attached to it, later carried into senior technical roles across <strong>multiple organizations</strong> (Mitel, EG&amp;G, Zarlink, Microsemi), where Mr. Comeau was responsible for resolving process and yield issues from design to production. The cumulative effect of that work was a clear understanding of how tightly yield and reliability are linked, especially at the moment a product enters service.</p><p><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dii"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1768403654641-1768403654641.jpeg" width="604" height="404" class="fr-fic fr-dii" alt="Alain R. Comeau (M. Sc.), Founder, CEO, and CTO at SimpleChips (Credit: SimpleChips)" /><span class="fr-inner">Alain R. Comeau (M. Sc.), Founder, CEO, and CTO at SimpleChips (Credit: SimpleChips)</span></span></span></p><h2>Beyond the Design Kit: When Physics Defines the Real Limit</h2><p>SimpleChips operates on the premise that design and manufacturing decisions must be evaluated together. Technology selection is guided by a disciplined assessment of risk, performance, and cost across the full lifecycle of a device. Improving yield is viewed as a direct path to improving reliability, particularly at time zero.</p><p>This way of thinking also directly impacts how SimpleChips approaches analog and mixed-signal designs. Many engineers work within the boundaries defined by standard process design kits. These kits provide structure and consistency while also defining what is considered feasible. SimpleChips routinely questions those boundaries when application requirements demand it.</p><p>According to <strong>Mr. Comeau</strong>, the limitations are not always a limitation of physics. It is more sometimes the result of constraints imposed by tooling and preexisting established libraries. When required, the team extends the process’ components’ libraries by developing new resistive, capacitive, or transistor structures, guided by a clear understanding of the risks involved and supported by extensive internal libraries built over time.</p><h2>Simpler Architectures for Reliability</h2><p>SimpleChips’ devices are designed for use in EV powertrains, industrial systems, medical equipment, and aerospace applications. These systems operate across wide voltage and temperature ranges. They are also expected to perform consistently over decades.</p><p>One <strong>example</strong> illustrates how this thinking translates into silicon. In developing a high-voltage monitor, SimpleChips needed a monolithic resistor network capable of maintaining an extremely good linearity of +/-0.1% from 0 to 1200 volt (or less than +/-0.60ppm/V). Mr. Comeau stated that such a unique component (p/n 18SCT005) allows designers to build accurate and compact high-voltage sensing networks without the use of bulky external components such as high-voltage resistors or strings of low-voltage resistors. He also acknowledged that while this innovation “<strong>would not win a Nobel Prize</strong>,” its value lies in its practicality.</p><p>The <strong>18SCT005</strong> enables simpler system architectures that would otherwise require large networks of discrete components, each introducing additional tolerances and potential failure points. By integrating this behavior into silicon, SimpleChips simplifies high-voltage sensing and improves system predictability and compactness. Engineers evaluating these devices can reference detailed performance data published on the company’s website to assess suitability for their applications.</p><p><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dii"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1768403872647-Screenshot+2026-01-14+151635.png" width="299" height="398" class="fr-fic fr-dii" alt="The 18SCT005 high-voltage precision monitor IC (Credit: SimpleChips)" /><span class="fr-inner">The 18SCT005 high-voltage precision monitor IC (Credit: SimpleChips)</span></span></span></p><h2>Solving the Near-Impossible and Delivering the Essential</h2><p>SimpleChips’ current product direction is rooted in a long history of custom ASIC development. Founded in <strong>2002</strong>, the company initially focused on IP development and licensing before transitioning in <strong>2015 </strong>to IC manufacturing and expanding operations from Canada to the United States. </p><p>Over the years, SimpleChips has built a strong reputation in enabling custom solutions for end-of-life products and legacy systems. Several of these solutions (<strong>40+</strong>) were innovative enough to warrant successful patent applications. As a result of these strong credentials and reputation, SimpleChips can now count on some of the largest U.S. system manufacturers as returning Customers.</p><p>These returning Customers demanded more than component-level expertise. They demanded system-level understanding. These “<strong>resurrected chips</strong>” simply have to be dropped into existing unchanged systems and work the very first time. Inputs, outputs, timing relationships, and environmental constraints all have to be considered. This work shaped the company’s ability to deliver digital, analog, and mixed-signal functionality within tightly constrained systems on-time.</p><h2>Good Information Leads to Good Decisions</h2><p>Certain patterns of information have emerged across products, and clear challenges have appeared repeatedly. As Mr. Comeau puts it, “<strong>good information leads to good decisions</strong>”. As a result of good information, better solutions have been created. Problems exist as a result of a chain of events such as “<strong>problemA = eventB and eventC.</strong>” If eventB is eliminated, then problemA can never happen. This rationale was fundamental in understanding root-causes behind some of the most complex problems SimpleChips has resolved.</p><p>SimpleChips began to formalize these recurring solutions into standard products, building a product and technology portfolio grounded in real applications. The <strong>18SCT005 </strong>reflects this evolution. It replaces tens or hundreds of discrete resistors with a single drop-in IC, reducing assembly complexity and minimizing potential failure points. These positive impacts are equally felt at the system level. Designs become easier to validate and maintain. This improves system reliability. The value becomes what is removed from the system rather than what is added.</p><h2>Engineering with Consequences</h2><p>The environments where SimpleChips’ devices operate leave little room for error. Some of these devices are used in medical systems implanted in the human body. One chip has been deployed in defibrillators for a decade, where its purpose is to restart the heart, without a single failure.</p><p><strong>Mr. Comeau</strong> has spoken candidly about the responsibility that comes with such applications. Failure in this context carries direct human consequences. This reality reinforces the company’s emphasis on rigor, accountability, and careful decision-making. Engineering choices are made with a clear understanding of where devices will be used and what is at stake.</p><p><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dii"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1768403654763-1768403654763.jpeg" width="528" height="298" class="fr-fic fr-dii" alt="High-voltage monitoring in implantable cardiac devices like pacemakers (Credit: SimpleChips)" /><span class="fr-inner">High-voltage monitoring in implantable cardiac devices like pacemakers (Credit: SimpleChips)</span></span></span></p><h2>Redefining the “Company”</h2><p>SimpleChips operates a small international team of professionals. The cultural perspective, brought in by professionals coming from <strong>8 different countries</strong>, is viewed as sources of technical breadth and innovation. Mr. Comeau often reflects on the meaning of the word “<strong>company</strong>” as meaning to “<strong>work in the company of others</strong>”. This definition considers Customers as colleagues for the purpose of a project. </p><p>Customer interaction plays a defining role in how SimpleChips operates. The company prioritizes rapid response and treats communication as an engineering input. Customers are included in feedback loops, and their insights shape both architecture and product direction. Although syntactically incorrect, SimpleChips always capitalizes the “<strong>C</strong>” in “<strong>Customers</strong>” because Customers are the most important “<strong>working-in-company-of</strong>” team member and always drive business forward.</p><h2>Long-Term Engineering and Reliable Electrification</h2><p>From a business standpoint, <strong>SimpleChips </strong>maintains both custom and standard product lines. This dual structure provides financial stability and reduces sensitivity to market fluctuations. Custom projects continue to shape product development, while standard products expand the company’s reach. This balance enables long-term engineering investment. It allows the company to focus on solving difficult problems without being driven by short-term cycles.</p><p>Against this backdrop of continuous investment, power management continues to drive the electronics landscape. Electrification across transportation, industries, and infrastructures (AI) are accelerating. SimpleChips operates as an enabler within this evolution, with precision, stability, and reliability as core priorities.</p><p><strong>Mr. Comeau</strong> often speaks about positive creativity, teamwork and the responsibility that comes with building technologies for critical systems. SimpleChips’ work reflects that outlook. It is shaped by experience, informed by real applications, and guided by a clear understanding of what is at stake and what is important (root-causes) when failure is not an option.</p><p>To see detailed performance data and explore the SimpleChips product portfolio, visit <a href="https://www.simplechips.com/" target="_blank">simplechips.com</a></p>

How SimpleChips designs high-voltage silicon for systems that must perform reliably over decades?

SimpleChips: A Systems-First Approach to High-Voltage IC Design

<h2 id="isPasted">The Need to Stand Out in the Engineering Job Market</h2><p>The U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 9% increase in engineering jobs from 2023 to 2033, more than double the average for all occupations<sup>[1]</sup>. At the same time, another study<sup>[2]</sup> reports that 98% of engineering employers struggle to find suitable candidates for these positions. Proof that while the engineering job sector continues to grow, early career engineers and professionals struggle to get noticed.</p><p>Every year, a wave of new graduates enters the job market armed with strong technical skills and impressive academic records. This raises a critical question for employers and hiring managers: what makes one candidate stand out from dozens of equally qualified applicants?</p><p>This reality underscores the need for students and early-career engineers to differentiate themselves beyond textbook knowledge. As companies accelerate their digital transformation and embrace technologies like artificial intelligence, employers are seeking candidates who combine technical expertise with digital fluency and adaptability—qualities that enable them to deliver impact from day one.</p><p>The challenge lies in the disconnect between what students believe makes them stand out and what actually captures an employer’s attention. Strong fundamentals are essential, but in today’s competitive market, success also depends on how you showcase your unique strengths. Differentiation strategies and effective presentation skills are at the heart of the <a href="https://go.sw.siemens.com/KqIHlzeX">Siemens AMA session.</a></p><p>In the on-demand session, you will learn how to: </p><ul><li><p>Write a resume that highlights your value </p></li><li><p>Impress employers with sharp interview answers </p></li><li><p>Use projects and online profiles to get noticed </p></li><li><p>Get honest answers to your questions about the engineering job market </p></li></ul><p>Walk away with practical tips you can use today to land your dream engineering job.  </p><p><a href="https://go.sw.siemens.com/KqIHlzeX" class="button-main-action">Access the AMA here</a></p><h2>How Siemens On-Demand Webinar Helps You Stand Out</h2><p>In this on-demand AMA, Global Head of University Relations (UR) &amp; Talent Programs Jess Naab and Product and Engineering Manager Julian Jaeger share their real-life experiences of their first-ever interviews after college, including what they wish they had done better, and how they learned from their mistakes.  </p><p>Julian, who secured his Siemens engineering role straight out of college, recalls his interview for his first job and the importance of taking advantage of resources like the Siemens AMA.  </p><p>Jess and Julian explain how to design a resume to stand out, using a real-world engineering resume as an example. "As an engineer…, when you're in a technical job field, technical skills are really important, … and making them easy to find from a recruiter's perspective is really important," says Jess.</p><blockquote><p>“Your resume should not say, ‘I was part of this team,’” Julian explains. “Your resume should say, ‘I was part of the team and we achieved 10% cost savings.’ Show me the results — not just that you were part of the team.” </p></blockquote><p>Jess and Julian also provide experienced back answers to real questions from real students and job-seeking engineers. Other topics covered include optimizing your LinkedIn profile for career success and preparing for successful job interviews. </p><p>Whether you’re currently applying for engineering jobs, preparing for an interview, or unsure about the best resume design that'll showcase essential skills and experiences, the Siemens on-demand AMA is packed with actionable insights you can apply to stand out in the engineering job market. </p><p><a href="https://go.sw.siemens.com/KqIHlzeX" class="button-main-action">Access the free on-demand AMA now.</a></p><h2>Get to know the AMA speakers</h2><p>Jess Naab is the Global Head of University Relations (UR) &amp; Talent Programs at Siemens Digital Industries Software. Jess has been with Siemens for over 7 years. She began as a campus recruiter for the Siemens internship program and is proud to have played a role in the growth of the internship and entry-level space at Siemens Digital Industries Software. Jess loves the UR space, both for the impact the team drives in shaping the future workforce of the Siemens business and for the opportunity to help so many students through the transition from campus to corporate life.</p><p>Jess received her undergraduate business degree from the Ohio State University and her MBA from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Jess lives in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband and their cats. She loves traveling to new countries or national parks, any hobbies that are outdoors and active, spending time with friends and family, and reading.</p><p>Complementing Jess' recruitment experience is Julian Jaeger. Julian holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech and began his career at Siemens (his first job after college) in January 2008 as a systems engineer in the mining segment. Since then, he has held a variety of roles across the organization, including development engineering, project management, and product/portfolio management. </p><p>He currently serves as the engineering manager for rolling stock components at Siemens Mobility. Based in Alpharetta, Georgia, Julian leads a team that supports new product introduction, provides both manufacturing and field support, and serves as the product expert for Siemens’ portfolio serving the North American rail market.</p><p><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzU3MzM5OTEwNjAyLVVudGl0bGVkIGRlc2lnbiAoMzIpLnBuZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width:100%px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" /></p><h2>Final Thoughts</h2><p>Jump into the AMA with curiosity and get real, actionable insights to help you kick-start your engineering career. Whether you need quick résumé tips, strategies to showcase your projects, or fresh inspiration for your first job hunt, this is your chance to learn directly from professionals who’ve been in your shoes and to engage with questions from fellow engineering students and early-career peers. Show up, ask, and take away advice you can put into practice right away.</p><p><a href="https://go.sw.siemens.com/KqIHlzeX" class="button-main-action">Gain valuable career insights here.</a></p><p><a href="https://webinars.sw.siemens.com/en-US/ama-how-engineering-students-early-career-stand-out-employers/"></a></p><h2>References</h2><p>[1] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Outlook Handbook: Electrical and Electronics Engineers [Internet]. 2025. Available from: <a href="https://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/electrical-and-electronics-engineers.htm%5C">https://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/electrical-and-electronics-engineers.htm\</a></p><p>[2] Resource Provider. Top 10 engineering jobs in the UK for 2025: roles in high Demand and rising salaries [Internet]. 2025. Available from: <a href="https://resourceprovider.co.uk/top-10-engineering-jobs-in-the-uk-for-2025-roles-in-high-demand-and-rising-salaries/">https://resourceprovider.co.uk/top-10-engineering-jobs-in-the-uk-for-2025-roles-in-high-demand-and-rising-salaries/</a></p>

For students and early-career engineers, preparing for the job market can feel like navigating uncharted waters. Watch this on-demand AMA (ask-me-anything) with a Siemens recruiter and an engineering hiring manager to help you land your next engineering job.

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