Characteristics of energy deposition from 1-1000 MeV proton and neutron induced nuclear reactions in silicon

Abstract

The characteristics of the energy deposition of the secondary particles from the proton and neutron induced elastic and nonelastic reactions in silicon over a wide energy range of 1-1000 MeV, which are of great value for the proton and neutron single event effect (SEE) study, are investigated systematically in detail with Geant4 simulations. According to our simulation results, some important issues about the proton and neutron SEEs, including the energy dependence of the SEE cross sections, the equivalence of protons and neutrons in SEEs, the effects of the critical charge on SEEs, the geometric effect of the sensitive volumes, and the role of the elastic scattering mechanism in SEEs, are discussed. And some significant conclusions are tried to be drawn. With our systematic study, a comprehensive and profound understanding about the proton and neutron SEEs is reached from the physical perspective.