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COMPANY RESEARCH / OXIG.L

Oxford Instruments

Plasma etch and ALD tools for qubit fabrication

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Where it fits in a quantum computer

Sells plasma etch and deposition tools used to make superconducting qubits: Rigetti purchased a PlasmaPro 100 Cobra atomic layer etch system for its Fab-1 quantum foundry (May 22, 2026), and NYU Nanofab installed a PlasmaPro ASP atomic layer deposition system for superconducting nitrides, the first in the US for superconducting quantum applications (May 7, 2026).

What the evidence establishes

Upstream enabler

Disclosed: Oxford Instruments’ May 2026 releases name Rigetti and NYU Nanofab as users of its etch and deposition systems for quantum devices, and its FY2026 results report the NanoScience divestment.

Materials, isotopes, gases, substrates, equipment or foundry capacity behind quantum-computer components. This is not a component supplier role or an established quantum revenue stream.

Component rolePlasma etch and ALD tools for qubit fabrication
EvidenceDisclosed: Oxford Instruments’ May 2026 releases name Rigetti and NYU Nanofab as users of its etch and deposition systems for quantum devices, and its FY2026 results report the NanoScience divestment.
How we knowDisclosed The company’s own filing, release, annual report, product page or investor record describes the quantum-computing role. Where customers are unnamed, the listing says so.
Primary sourceOxford Instruments — supporting disclosure
Company or official disclosure; vendor claims are attributed to their source.
Checked. This is the research review date, not the source publication or quote time.

Keep in perspective

Oxford Instruments no longer makes dilution refrigerators: it agreed on June 10, 2025 to sell NanoScience, maker of the Proteox refrigerators, to privately held Quantum Design for £60m including up to £3m deferred, and Quantum Design completed the deal on Jan 2, 2026. Tool sales to quantum customers are not broken out.

Diversified business exposure. This describes the breadth or role of the business; it is not an investment rating. A quantum-computing product, design-in or partnership does not by itself establish material quantum revenue, market share, or future returns.

Connections to the assembly

These links explain the technology relationship. The model is illustrative and does not represent an actual manufacturer’s bill of materials.

Josephson junctions & films

Aluminium–aluminium-oxide–aluminium tunnel junctions, the nonlinear element that makes each circuit a qubit, and the niobium, tantalum or aluminium films of its wiring. Deposition and lithography tools and high-purity target metals make them.

Scope of the company links: The Al/AlOx/Al tunnel junctions and the Nb, Ta or Al films are made inside the qubit makers’ own fabs, so the listed exposure is to tools and process know-how. Oxford Instruments markets plasma tools for quantum devices, including atomic-layer deposition of NbN and TiN films and of Al2O3, AlN or TaN tunnel barriers for Josephson junctions (positioning); Applied Materials is named by Qolab (for superconducting qubits) and by HPE for materials engineering and wafer-level fabrication; and Veeco’s 10-K lists quantum computing among the uses of its ALD and MBE systems. Published qubit recipes name private tools: Plassys electron-beam evaporators and Raith e-beam writers. Sputter-target and metal makers (Materion, JX Advanced Metals) and JEOL’s e-beam writers have no documented qubit role in the sources captured and are not mapped.

Flip-chip bonds

Indium bumps that join the qubit die face down onto a second die carrying readout and control wiring, so signals reach the middle of the chip from above instead of only from its edges.

Scope of the company links: Flip-chip bonds and 3D integration. Rigetti’s 10-K describes in-house superconducting multi-chip bonding for chip-level 3D integration and superconducting through-silicon vias, used in its chiplet-based systems, and AWS’s Ocelot stacks two bonded silicon chips of about 1 cm² each. GlobalFoundries says it is developing a cryogenic and superconducting heterogeneous interconnect platform (positioning), and Oxford Instruments markets deep silicon etch for through-silicon vias in quantum circuits; its PECVD tool appears in QuTech’s 2026 indium-bump qubit recipe. The indium in that recipe came from Indium Corporation and the gold evaporator from AJA International, both private, and QuantWare (private) sells VIO chiplet packaging. No bonder maker (Besi, Kulicke & Soffa) documents a quantum role, so none is mapped.

Related research

Companies with overlapping sector exposure. Their products and evidence may differ; this is not a list of equivalent investments.

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