Cross-Platform Comparison
Three Chips, One Suite
Identical quantum diagnostic circuits run on three different processors. Same algorithms, different hardware, different answers. All experiments designed and executed by an AI agent (Claude Opus 4.6).
The Processors
Tuna-9
QV=8Quantum Inspire / QuTech
IQM Garnet
QV=32IQM Resonance
IBM Torino
QV=32IBM Quantum
Bell State Fidelity
Simplest entanglement benchmark: create (|00〉+|11〉)/√2 and measure. The spread between best and worst pairs reveals chip uniformity.
*IBM used default transpiler qubit placement (not cherry-picked). IQM Garnet: 22/29 pairs swept (mean 96.3%, 7.2pp spread). All platforms have qubit-quality variation.
GHZ Fidelity vs. Qubit Count
How fast does entanglement quality degrade with circuit size? IBM Torino pushes to 50-qubit GHZ. Per-qubit error stays remarkably consistent at ~5%.
Key finding: qubit quality > circuit depth
On IQM Garnet, a GHZ-5 circuit routed through high-quality qubits (81.8%, depth 20, 9 CZ gates) outperformed one routed through the weak QB9 region (57.8%, depth 16, 7 CZ gates). Fewer gates on bad qubits is worse than more gates on good qubits.
Quantum Volume
Standard benchmark: heavy output fraction must exceed 2/3 for each circuit width n. QV = 2n_max.
Passes n=2,3. Fails at n=4 (9 qubits, sparse topology).
Passes n=2,3,4,5. 4x Tuna-9. 20 qubits, 29 connections.
Passes n=2-5, fails at n=6. Same as Garnet despite 6.7x more qubits. 133q, heavy-hex.
Noise Fingerprints
Bell state tomography in Z, X, Y bases reveals the type of noise, not just the amount. Dephasing (T2): ZZ > XX ≈ |YY|. Depolarizing: all equal. Amplitude damping (T1): asymmetric.
Tuna-9 — q4-q6 (best pair)
Dephasing. ZZ=0.945 > XX=0.902 ≈ |YY|=0.896. Phase degrades faster than population.
IQM Garnet — QB14-QB15
Dephasing. ZZ=0.975 > XX=0.949 > |YY|=0.881. Highest overall correlations. T2 is the bottleneck.
IBM Torino — default pair
Depolarizing. ZZ=0.729 ≈ XX=0.704 ≈ |YY|=0.675. All correlators within 5%. Uniform noise across all bases.
At a Glance
| Metric | Tuna-9 | IQM Garnet | IBM Torino |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qubits | 9 | 20 | 133 |
| Connectivity | 12 edges | 29 edges | Heavy-hex |
| Bell fidelity | 93.5% | 98.4% | 86.5%* |
| GHZ-3 | 88.9% | 93.9% | 82.9% |
| GHZ-5 | 83.8% | 81.8% | 76.6% |
| GHZ-10 | n/a | 54.7% | 62.2% |
| GHZ-20 | n/a | n/a | 34.3% |
| GHZ-50 | n/a | n/a | 8.5% |
| Quantum Volume | 16 | 32 | 32 |
| Dominant noise | Dephasing | Dephasing | Depolarizing |
| Per-qubit error | 3.5-6.2% | 1.4-5.0% | 4.6-6.1% |
| QPU time used | ~42K shots | ~70K shots | 44s / 10 min |
Key Takeaways
IQM Garnet wins on gate quality — Highest Bell fidelity (98.4%), best GHZ-3 (93.9%), and strongest correlators. For circuits that fit in 20 qubits, Garnet delivers the cleanest results.
IBM Torino wins on scale — 50-qubit GHZ (8.5% fidelity) is noisy but measurable. GHZ-20 at 34.3% and GHZ-10 at 62.2% beat Garnet's GHZ-10 (54.7%). More qubits = more routing options = better qubit selection.
Tuna-9 punches above its weight — QV=16 on 9 qubits with basic gates. Best 5-qubit GHZ (83.8%) beats both IBM (76.6%) and Garnet (81.8%). Small but well-characterized.
QV=32 on both Garnet and Torino — More qubits doesn't mean higher QV. Per-gate error rate is the bottleneck, not qubit count. Both fail at n=6 where circuit depth overwhelms coherence.