This paper reports a significant advancement in the fabrication of long-lifetime transmon qubits. Using tantalum films and a dry etching process, the researchers achieved a transmon qubit with a T1 lifetime of 503 μs, exceeding the performance of qubits fabricated with niobium and aluminum under the same conditions. The dry etching process's stability and anisotropy make it suitable for creating complex, scalable quantum circuits, suggesting a promising path towards building practical quantum computers.
