APPROACHES TO PROTON SINGLE-EVENT RATE CALCULATIONS

This article discusses the fundamentals of proton-induced single-event upsets and of the various methods that have been developed to calcula te upset rates, Two types of approaches are used based on nuclear-reac tion analysis, Several aspects can be analyzed using analytic methods, but a complete description is not available. The paper presents an an alytic description for the component due to elastic-scattering recoils , There have been a number of studies made using Monte Carlo methods. These can completely describe the reaction processes, including the ef fect of nuclear reactions occurring outside the device-sensitive volum e, They have not included the elastic-scattering processes, The articl e describes the semiempirical approaches that are most widely used, Th e quality of previous upset predictions relative to space observations is discussed and leads to comments about the desired quality of futur e predictions. Brief sections treat the possible testing limitation du e to total ionizing dose effects, the relationship of proton and heavy -ion upsets, upsets due to direct proton ionization, and relative prot on and cosmic-ray upset rates.