About

Low Noise Factory (LNF) designs and produces the world’s best low noise microwave amplifiers. These amplifiers are used near absolute zero –cryogenic– temperatures for space exploration, quantum computing, radio astronomy, and for various ground-breaking scientific endeavours where extreme sensitivity is paramount. Our amplifiers help receive signals from the most distant man-made object from Earth, the Voyager 1 space probe, help read quantum states in the fastest quantum computers, and help make MRI scanners work in medical institutions.

We are a Swedish company established in 2005, located in Göteborg, where we both develop and manufacture our products.

Low Noise Factory’s state-of-the-art amplifiers are far ahead of competition. We invest heavily in research and collaborate closely with academic and scientific communities to keep advancing our technology further and further. Our success is the result of passion for science and precision, advanced by devotion and curiosity. As explorers on the technological frontier, our aim is to keep making the impossible possible.

 

Low Noise Factory’s technology achieves big things while being extremely small.

The roughly 20-step manufacturing process requires meticulous attention to detail and thoroughness, and we have mastered both.

Despite the invisibly small componentry, our amplifiers are built to withstand some of the most extreme of conditions.

Extreme level of precision

Our transistors are produced in a world-class cleanroom. They are processed in about 20 steps using electron beam and laser lithography. Precision in our transistors is measured in nanometers and single layers of atoms, a level of accuracy that decides the quality of the end product.

Thorough testing

All amplifiers we build for cryogenic use are tested at 4 K before being delivered to customers. Sample LNAs are handpicked to go through excruciating experiments such as being cooled down to near absolute zero 100 times during a testing. After all, they have to perform well at 4 K not only once, but every single time.

Future developments

With large improvements on the horizon, the field of low noise amplification is opening up new possibilities for future products, creating completely new uses for the technology, much of what we can not even yet imagine.

The founder and CEO of Low Noise Factory, Niklas Wadefalk, holds a degree in electrical engineering from Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg, Sweden, and is a prolific author in the scientific field. Niklas’ deep interest in radio astronomy instrumentation became the inspiration and driving force to found LNF.

As a researcher and engineer he considers LNF as a workplace his most important achievement: „Every day when I come to work, it is the people and the environment we have created that I am most proud of.“

Our people are the backbone of our success

We believe in diversity and the importance of knowledge in different fields. The result is a creative work environment where each team member complements each other and contributes with their full potential to the whole.

Meet the team

Work at LNF

We are looking for skillful and passionate people. Join our team!
In case you did not find a position suitable for you, but would still like to apply, send us your CV and motivational letter. We will get in touch to discuss the options.
History

Timeline throughout the years

  • 1996: Work begins

    The future founding of Low Noise Factory is signalled when Niklas Wadefalk begins his work developing cryogenic amplifiers as a staff engineer at Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg, Sweden.

  • 2001: Caltech and SETI Allen Telescope Array

    The work continues at California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where researching, developing and building amplifiers for the SETI Allen Telescope Array takes place. The project culminates with the array’s operations beginning in 2007.

  • 2005: LNF is founded

    A growing global demand for ultra low noise amplifiers for novel purposes (without forgetting radio astronomy), sets the wheels in motion to found a company that develops and manufactures LNAs. It is named Low Noise Factory. One of the company’s first customers becomes The SETI Institute with an order of hundreds of amplifiers for an expanded array of radio antennas listening to the faintest of signals from extraterrestrial life.

  • 2010: Rising above competitors

    The upstarting field of quantum computing creates a new market for modern low noise amplifiers working at near absolute zero temperatures. This shift is driven by a growing interest in the field from major software and service companies like Google, amongst others. With our advanced products and superior quality that no competition can match, Low Noise Factory is the logical choice of amplifier provider in this new exciting era of microwave research.

  • 2019: Joining the European OpenSuperQ project

    Low Noise Factory joins the European OpenSuperQ project, founded and funded by the European Union. The project’s aim is to build a 100 qubits quantum computer in three years time. The computer is set to become one of the best of its kind in the world.

  • 2020: A new office facility

    Low Noise Factory moves to a modern research, manufacturing and office facility in Göteborg, Sweden.

  • 2021: An updated branding and visual identity

    A fresh start in a new facility called for a new take on how Low Noise Factory communicates with the world. Same professional and personal approach, but with an elevated visual language.