Implications of Nuclear Reactions for Single Event Effects Test Methods and Analysis

Simulation results for the full galactic cosmic ray environment demonstrate that current accelerator-based test methods using linear energy transfer as the engineering metric to characterize single event effects are not sufficient to capture the nuclear reaction portion of the response. Nuclear reactions contribute significantly to on-orbit single-event rates as compared to those from direct ionization induced by the primary ions. Based on these results, the applicability of current single-event test methods to predicting on-orbit event rates is examined and improved procedures are identified. For devices with critical charge values that are in the range where nuclear reactions may play a role in determining the event rate, ground-based tests should include irradiation with several types of ions of different energies to identify the contribution of these reactions to the measured SEE cross section