John Madocks – President
John founded General Plasma 14 years ago and has over 25 years’ experience in the thin film vacuum coating industry. In the past 10 years John has invented several new plasma sources and has patents pending and issued for significant improvements to ion sources and sputter cathodes. In particular he has pioneered the use of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) for large area substrates. He is well known in the vacuum coating industry, presenting his inventions at industry conventions. John is a “larger than life” character whose passion for engineering and drive for excellence make General Plasma an innovation leader. John has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the California Polytechnic Institute and enjoys working on all the ‘engineering’ projects at his Western Massachusetts farm. John is an animal lover and is grieving the loss of Ben, his Australian Sheppard dog who recently passed. Everyone at GPI remembers Ben as John’s constant companion for 12 years.
Phong Ngo – Vice President of Business Development
Phong has been an integral member of the General Plasma team since 2006 when he designed the electrical distribution, control architecture and automation of a prototype sputtering tool for the solar industry. Following this successful effort, Phong designed and installed control systems for 13 fully automated CIGS deposition vacuum coater systems and several automated large area glass coater control systems with Oracle integration for production tracking. In 2009 Phong filed for a patent on a proprietary motion profile to improve target utilization of the moving magnet planar magnetron on behalf of his research at GPI. More recently, he has developed an oxide reactive sputtering controller and lead the magnetic design and analysis of a proprietary high utilization magnet pack that is key to the high utilization efficiency of General Plasma’s rotary and planar magnetrons.
Phong has spent his entire career in the vacuum coating industry and become a veteran expert in thin film magnetic and plasma processes. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Arizona where he has also received his Master of Science in Electrical Engineering.
Never able to satisfy his scientific curiosity, Phong spends his personal time working on various electronic projects both around the house and simply for the fun of doing so. A native of Southeast Asia, he has accumulated a few frequent flyer miles pursuing another passion of his – traveling the world and exploring new places and cultures. When not in the laboratory or navigating the globe, Phong is also quite at home in the kitchen and enjoys cooking for his wife, family and friends.
Marion McEuen – Vice President Operations
Marion has designed and built a broad spectrum of vacuum and coating equipment since leaving the University of Arizona in 1993. Marion worked throughout the nineties with John Madocks, GPI’s President, at several vacuum coating equipment companies. At Desert Cryogenics, he was promoted to VP of Engineering, responsible for all aspects of the Tucson divisional operation including the design, sale, and engineering of a family of cryogenic probe stations.
Prior to rejoining GPI, Marion was the Director of Expansion / Advanced Programs for Global Solar Energy, Inc. As program manager for all Global Solar capital programs, he had Board level accountability and executive level authority related to construction of Global Solar’s new Tucson manufacturing plant and a copy-exact manufacturing plant in Berlin, Germany. With both plants up and running, he was tasked with the delivering the product – and the production lines – for manufacturing building-integrated solar modules. Once again, the program objectives were successfully delivered. Given Marion’s success, GPI is lucky to have Marion back as VP of Operations.
As an Arizona native, Marion enjoys living and working in the Tucson area. Along with his wife Krista, Marion loves raising his three beautiful children, exploring the back country of the South West, and spending time with family and friends.
Walter Seaman – Director of Research and Development
Walter started at General Plasma in 2007 as a mechanical engineer. After assisting in the design and production of a large area sputter coater for the glass industry, he successfully designed and built several vacuum chamber systems that now make up General Plasma’s extensive Plasma Source Testing and Research and Development Laboratory. Following these engineering activities, Walter was responsible for maturing General Plasma’s revolutionary plasma technology to be the world’s first linear, production worthy PECVD system. As the R&D manager, he also lead the development of General Plasma’s thin film coatings. Now, these coatings are know in the industry as world class, and have been successfully integrated into production and R&D systems for large area glass, flexible display, and crystalline solar cells.
Walter graduate Magna Cum Laude in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Arizona. Working closely with John for several years, he is well versed in all aspects of vacuum deposition technology.
When not at work, Walter enjoys applying his engineering background to his love of cars, designing and fabricating custom turbocharged engines for every car he has owned. While he is actually a native of Oklahoma, he much prefers trekking the beautiful Tucson mountains with his wife Katherine and their (soon to be two) children.