physics

Leigh Canham

Leigh Canham is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Leigh Canham rather than just read about it. In short: Leigh Canham is a British scientist who has pioneered the optoelectronic and biomedical applications of porous silicon. Leigh Canham graduated from University College London in 1979 with a BSc in Physics and completed his PhD at King's College London in 1983.

Key takeaways

Leigh Canham belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Leigh Canham to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Leigh Canham from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Leigh Canham is a British scientist who has pioneered the optoelectronic and biomedical applications of porous silicon. Leigh Canham graduated from University College London in 1979 with a BSc in Physics and completed his PhD at King's College London in 1983. His early work in this area took place at the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment in Malvern, Worcestershire. Canham and his colleagues showed that electrochemically etched silicon could be made porous. This porous material could emit visible light when a current was passed through it (electroluminescence). Later the group demonstrated the biocompatibility of porous silicon. Canham now works as Chief Scientific Officer of psiMedica (part of pSiVida). According to the pSiVida web site, Canham is the most cited author on porous silicon. In a study of most cited physicists up to 1997 Canham ranked at 771.

Bibliography

Selected papers Porous silicon-based scaffolds for tissue engineering and other biomedical applications, Jeffery L. Coffer, Melanie A. Whitehead, Dattatri K. Nagesha, Priyabrata Mukherjee, Giridhar Akkaraju, Mihaela Totolici, Roghieh S. Saffie, Leigh T. Canham, Physica Status Solidi A Vol. 202, Issue 8, Pages 1451 - 1455 Gaining light from silicon, Leigh Canham, Nature vol. 408, pp. 411 – 412 (2000) doi:10.1038/35044156 Progress towards silicon optoelectronics using porous silicon technology, L. T. Canham, T. I. Cox, A. Loni and A. J. Simons, Applied Surface Science, Volume 102, Pages 436-441 (1996) Porous silicon multilayer optical waveguides, A. Loni, L. T. Canham, M. G. Berger, R. Arens-Fischer, H. Munder, H. Luth, H. F. Arrand and T. M. Benson, Thin Solid Films, Vol. 276, Issues 1-2, pages 143-146 (1996) The origin of efficient luminescence in highly porous silicon, K. J. Nash, P. D. J. Calcott, L. T. Canham, M. J. Kane and D. Brumhead, J. of Luminescence, Volumes 60-61, Pages 297-301 (1994) Electronic quality of vapour phase epitaxial Si grown at reduced temperature, W. Y. Leong, L. T. Canham, I. M. Young and D. J. Robbins, Thin Solid Films, Volume 184, Issues 1-2, pages 131-137 (1990) Silicon quantum wire array fabrication by electrochemical and chemical dissolution of wafers, L. T. Canham, Applied Physic Letters, Volume 57, pages 1046-1048 (1990)

Books Properties of Porous Silicon, Leigh Canham (Ed.) Inspec/IEE (1997) ISBN 0-85296-932-5 Biomedical Mems: Clinical Applications of Silicon Technology, Leigh Canham, Inst of Physics Pub Inc (2003) ISBN 0-7503-0921-0

Selected patents US patent 6,322,895 US patent 5,561,304

External links pSivida An Interview with Leigh Canham

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Leigh Canham

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Leigh Canham claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Leigh Canham before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Leigh Canham ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Leigh Canham

In research: Leigh Canham appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Leigh Canham in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Leigh Canham is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1958 births, Alumni of King's College London, Alumni of University College London, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Leigh Canham outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Leigh Canham in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Leigh Canham means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Leigh Canham out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Leigh Canham in simple terms?

Why does Leigh Canham matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Leigh Canham?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Leigh Canham.