Heavy-ion beams for single-event research at Brookhaven — present and future

Abstract

Since low energy nuclear physics research was discontinued at Brookhaven and replaced by a relativistic heavy ion program, large blocks of time became available at the tandem Van de Graaff facility for technological applications and for research in other areas. The main technological application has been the single event upset (SEU) testing of microelectronic devices, and this activity has been steadily increasing over the last few years. The ion beam requirements for this type of work are discussed and a description is given of methods used for satisfying these requirements at the Brookhaven facility. Available ion species, energies, ranges, LETs and beam intensities, purity and uniformity are discussed. Characteristics are summarized of a sophisticated and extremely user friendly test chamber and associated hardware and software installed at Brookhaven by a coalition of government agencies and made available for general use. The possibility is mentioned of extending SEU testing to higher energies by using heavy ion beams from a booster synchrotron now under construction and from the existing large alternating gradient synchrotron (AGS). Finally a brief discussion is given of compatibility with other programs and of future availability of low and high energy heavy ions for SEU testing at Brookhaven.