Low-loss deposited dielectrics are beneficial for the advancement of superconducting integrated circuits for astronomy. In the microwave band (approximately 1-10 GHz) the dielectric loss at cryogenic temperatures and low electric field strengths is dominated by two-level systems. However, the origin of the loss in the millimeter-submillimeter band (approximately 0.1-1 THz) is not understood. We measured the loss of hydrogenated-amorphous-SiC films in the 0.27-100-THz range using superconducting-microstrip resonators and Fourier-transform spectroscopy. The agreement between the loss data and a Maxwell-Helmholtz-Drude dispersion model suggests that vibrational modes above 10 THz dominate the loss in hydrogenated amorphous SiC above 200 GHz.

We investigate die-level and wafer-scale uniformity of Dolan-bridge and bridgeless Manhattan-style Josephson junctions, using multiple substrates with and without through-silicon vias (TSVs). Dolan junctions fabricated on planar substrates have the highest yield and lowest room-temperature conductance spread, equivalent to ∼ 100 M H z in transmon frequency. In TSV-integrated substrates, Dolan junctions suffer most in both yield and disorder, making Manhattan junctions preferable. Manhattan junctions show pronounced conductance decrease from wafer center to edge, which we qualitatively capture using a geometric model of spatially-dependent resist shadowing during junction electrode evaporation. Analysis of actual junction overlap areas using scanning electron micrographs supports the model, and further points to a remnant spatial dependence possibly due to contact resistance.

We present the use of a set of airbridges to trim the frequency of microwave coplanar-waveguide (CPW) resonators post-fabrication. This method is compatible with the fabrication steps of conventional CPW airbridges and crossovers and increases device yield by allowing compensation of design and fabrication uncertainty with 100 MHz range and 10 MHz resolution. We showcase two applications in circuit QED. The first is the elimination of frequency collisions between resonators intended to readout different transmons by frequency-division multiplexing. The second is frequency matching of readout and Purcell-filter resonator pairs. Combining this matching with transmon frequency trimming by laser annealing reliably achieves fast and high-fidelity readout across 17-transmon quantum processors.

Minimizing leakage from computational states is a challenge when using many-level systems like superconducting quantum circuits as qubits. We realize and extend the quantum-hardware-efficient, all-microwave leakage reduction unit (LRU) for transmons in a circuit QED architecture proposed by Battistel et al. This LRU effectively reduces leakage in the second- and third-excited transmon states with up to 99% efficacy in 220 ns, with minimum impact on the qubit subspace. As a first application in the context of quantum error correction, we show how multiple simultaneous LRUs can reduce the error detection rate and suppress leakage buildup within 1% in data and ancilla qubits over 50 cycles of a weight-2 stabilizer measurement.