In fact, he likes to think in microns. To get an idea exactly how small this is, visualize a human hair. It takes 150 microns, or more than 200,000 layers of atoms, to make up the width of a human hair. Holmes' work with the devices could result in faster Internet access, sharper television images and cheaper, better computers. He earned master's and doctoral degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Southern California at Santa Barbara.
Optoelectronic devices have several applications.
To control the accuracy of the structure, one micron of atoms is laid down per hour onto this framework, eventually building up a crystalline structure. When the crystalline structure is fabricated into a device, it can be used in a system that carries information down an optical fiber via infrared light. The semiconductor materials that are the focus of the research are gallium arsenide, indium phosphide and nitride-based materials. These materials are capable of emitting light that can carry information farther down an optical fiber before amplification of the light is needed. The main advantage of fiber optic communications is its ability to carry a thousand times the information of copper wires, still used to carry many of today's telephone conversations and cable television programs.