THE SHAPE OF HEAVY-ION UPSET CROSS-SECTION CURVES

An approach is developed to describe heavy ion single event upset cros s section curves. It accounts for all significant mechanisms which cau se the curve to deviate from ideal, step function-like behavior. The m ethod is developed in terms of the charge deposited by an incident ion in a memory cell and is therefore free of ambiguities associated with the effective LET concept. It is suggested that this type of approach is an improvement over current methods used to characterize a memory response to accelerator tests. This has significant implications for p redicting space upset rates.