Multibit Upsets of Onboard Spacecraft Electronics from a Single Cosmic Radiation Particle

Abstract

An analysis of the impact of high-energy cosmic radiation protons on the onboard electronics of the spacecraft was performed. It has been shown that protons can cause nuclear reactions with the atomic nuclei of electronics material. Residual nuclei formed as a result of a nuclear reaction have sufficiently high energy to cross the sensitive areas of several bits of electronics, and the high ionizing ability of nuclear fragments makes it possible to generate an excess charge of carriers that exceeds the critical charge for upsets to occur simultaneously in several bits of an electronic device.