Detailed history of recoiling ions induced by nucleons Original Research Article

Nucleons induced failures in microelectronics devices is a real concern for today avionic and space flights. Nucleons are able to trigger nuclear reactions in the device, which is likely to undergo various dysfunctions. The failure is attributed to the nature of the secondary nuclei and their energies, especially to the residual recoiling ion, which can deposit locally the highest amount of energy. To better understand the mechanisms of such failure, but also to develop tools able to predict the reliability of a device in a given environment, the author developed the DHORIN nuclear code, which focuses on the recoil ions induced by nucleons in the 100 keV–200 MeV energy range. DHORIN, which stands for “detailed history of recoiling ions induced by nucleons”, provides the spectra of secondary particles emitted during the nuclear reactions. These spectra are yet required by devices simulators in order to estimate the reliability of a given component. Comparisons of excitation functions given by DHORIN and the EXFOR database are given here for aluminium and silicon.