Proton-induced displacement damage in GaAs and radiation-hardness of semiconductor detectors for high energy physics

A model of the radiation hardness of semiconductor detector materials is developed in terms of local charge neutrality (LCN). The non-ionizing energy deposition in GaAs has been calculated for protons with energies ranging from 1 to 25 GeV. Deep centres are shown to play a basic role in determining the radiation hardness of charged particle detectors fabricated from high-resistivity semiconductor material.