A superconducting quantum processor architecture design method for improving performance and reducing frequency collisions

More physical qubits and qubit connections integrated on a superconducting quantum processor can improve the ability to execute quantum programs, but on the other hand, they might increase the probability of frequency collisions. Considering a performance and frequency collisions trade-off, it is a feasible method to optimize processor architecture aiming at running specific quantum programs. To this end, we propose a method for designing superconducting quantum processor architectures for the purpose of running specific quantum programs. Different from existing methods, our method is mainly based on graph theory to optimize processor architecture design. First, we convert the trade-off problem into the optimization of the distance between two points as well as the maximum degree in the processor architecture graph. Second, we consider the actual physical routing constraints and build a mathematical model for the optimization problem. Finally, we propose an automatic processor architecture design flow based on the mathematical model, which is implemented with an improved genetic algorithm. To show the effectiveness of our method, we selected sixteen quantum programs with different qubit numbers and different functions for comparison. Simulation results show that the architecture schemes of our method outperform IBM’s general-purpose square lattice architecture schemes. Compared to the general-purpose architecture schemes, the architecture schemes of our method have an average performance improvement of 15.61% and a minimum reduction of 21.33% in the probability of frequency collisions. Furthermore, in most of the selected quantum programs, our architecture schemes perform better than the eff-5-freq’s architecture schemes, with an average 6.58% improvement in performance and a minimum 6.45% reduction in the probability of frequency collisions. Therefore, our method can provide superconducting quantum processor architecture design with better performance and lower probability of frequency collisions for quantum programs.