  In its most general form, the atom chip is a device in which neutral or
charged particles are positioned in an isolating environment such as vacuum (or
even a carbon solid state lattice) near the chip surface. The chip may then be
used to interact in a highly controlled manner with the quantum state. I
outline the importance of material science to quantum computing (QC) with atom
chips, where the latter may be utilized for many, if not all, suggested
implementations of QC. Material science is important both for enhancing the
control coupling to the quantum system for preparation and manipulation as well
as measurement, and for suppressing the uncontrolled coupling giving rise to
low fidelity through static and dynamic effects such as potential corrugations
and noise. As a case study, atom chips for neutral ground state atoms are
analyzed and it is shown that nanofabricated wires will allow for more than
$10^4$ gate operations when considering spin-flips and decoherence. The effects
of fabrication imperfections and the Casimir-Polder force are also analyzed. In
addition, alternative approaches to current-carrying wires are briefly
described. Finally, an outlook of what materials and geometries may be required
is presented, as well as an outline of directions for further study.
