Andre Wong

Andre Wong is the Deputy Director and Chief Engineer of the Imaging Technology Laboratory at University of Arizona. His expertise and background is in the development, manufacturing, and implementation of imaging systems in the visible and infrared (IR) for astronomical and space-based applications.

Prior to joining ITL, Andre was a Test Engineer for Teledyne Imaging Sensors (TIS) in Camarillo, CA from 2010 to 2014. There he worked on the characterization of Silicon and HgCdTe hybrid imaging sensors and ASIC electronics for astronomy programs such as JWST and Euclid. Notably, he led the JMAPS test campaign, providing key feedback enabling changes to the semiconductor processes critical to improving the sensor fabrication process. 

From 2014 to 2019, Andre was a Microdevices Engineer for the Flight Instrument Detectors & Camera Systems Group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA where he was an engineering lead on numerous detector and instrument projects and proposals. There he was involved in the maturation of the Long-Wave IR (LWIR) HgCdTe sensors for NEOCam (now NEO Surveyor) and of the InGaAsP Geiger-Mode Avalanche Photodiodes sensors for the Deep Space Optical Communications instrument. Andre moved to the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at University of Arizona at the end of 2019 to lead the development of the LWIR focal plane mosaic for NEO Surveyor, continuing his work with TIS on the development of the LWIR HgCdTe sensors and a new package for their SIDECAR ASIC electronics. 

In 2023, Andre joined Steward Observatory as a Principal Systems Engineer. He has a Master’s in Astronomy from the University of Virginia.

ITL has developed numerous new image sensors and new semiconductor processing techniques including silicon etching of various doping levels for reduced dark current and increased quantum efficiency, thin film coating design and applications for silicon imagers, packaging techniques for both large format sensors and focal plane mosaics, and imaging sensor software and techniques for characterization. For over 30 years, ITL has delivered over 4,0000 devices to the world-wide scientific and industrial communities. These sensors have been used on space-based projects such as GOES-16, 17, 18, and 19 (GLM), TEMPO, GEMS, SBSS, DSCOVR (EPIC), and PACE (OCI) and ground-based astronomy projects such as LSST, DESI, NOAO, Keck, Magellan, and ESO, among others.

Focus Areas:

Environmental Monitoring, Real-time Detection, Sensor Development