Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Cosmic ray effects on microelectronics. Part 3. Propagation of cosmic rays in the atmosphere. Memorandum report

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6176730
Cosmic-ray nuclei that enter the atmosphere will subsequently breakup into lighter nuclei due to collisions with air particles. They also undergo a gradual loss of energy due to ionization. The fluxes and energy spectra of particles were calculated for several atmospheric depths and geomagnetic locations. The results of these radiation transport calculations are plotted as integral Linear Energy Transfer (LET) spectra showing the total number of particles that can contribute to energy lows in silicon above a given threshold value. The results can then be used to calculated the upset rate induced by cosmic ray nuclei for devices of known size and critical charge. Topics examined include: geomagnetic cutoff, soft upsets, and single event upsets.
Research Organization:
Naval Research Lab., Washington, DC (USA)
OSTI ID:
6176730
Report Number(s):
AD-A-145026/1; NRL-MR-5402
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English