Interface Piezoelectric Loss in Superconducting Qubits

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2605.15554v1
• Date: Fri, 15 May 2026 02:46:29 GMT
• Title: Interface Piezoelectric Loss in Superconducting Qubits
• Abstract summary: We observe interface piezoelectricity-induced dissipation in superconducting qubits fabricated on high-resistivity silicon.<n>Our findings provide direct evidence for interface piezoelectricity as a distinct loss channel in superconducting qubits.
• Score: 0.0
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: Dissipation remains a central obstacle to improving superconducting quantum circuits, yet the microscopic origins of loss in widely used materials platforms are not fully understood. Here, we report the observation of interface piezoelectricity-induced dissipation in superconducting qubits fabricated on high-resistivity silicon. Our devices use a transmon qubit with a shunt capacitor that simultaneously serves as an interdigital transducer embedded in a surface acoustic wave resonator. By tuning the qubit transition into resonance with discrete mechanical modes, we observe up to a factor-of-two reduction in qubit lifetime, consistent with energy exchange between the qubit and mechanical modes mediated by piezoelectric coupling at the aluminum-silicon interface. Our findings provide direct evidence for interface piezoelectricity as a distinct loss channel in superconducting qubits. Combined with multiphysics simulations, these findings suggest that interface piezoelectric loss can dominate over loss from two-level systems at sufficiently high frequencies.

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