NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ODNI News Release No. 10-18

February 22, 2018





IARPA Launches "SuperTools" Program to Develop

Superconducting Circuit Design Tools





WASHINGTON – The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, announces today the “SuperTools” program, a multi-year research effort to develop comprehensive software tools for designing and analyzing superconducting electronics circuits.





This software would enable the user to design complex circuits with greater speed while using less power, which is no match for today’s semiconductor technology. “Modern electronic design tools are the core of the semiconductor revolution and have allowed ever more sophisticated electronic circuits to be designed and eventually built. Superconducting electronics offers the possibility of even faster and lower power circuits, but the design tools still need to be developed.” said Mark Heiligman, IARPA program manager.





Through a competitive Broad Agency Announcement, IARPA has awarded SuperTools research contracts to teams led by the University of Southern California and Synopsys Inc. Government agencies and national laboratories, including Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories will assist IARPA in conducting independent test and evaluation of the tool suites and associated design methodologies developed by each team. IARPA has partnered with the U.S. Army Research Office in the management of the SuperTools program.





IARPA invests in high-risk, high-payoff research programs to tackle some of the most difficult challenges of the agencies and disciplines in the Intelligence Community. Additional information on IARPA and its research may be found on www.iarpa.gov.