A GEANT-Based Model for Single Event Upsets in SRAM FPGAs for Use in On-Detector Electronics

A model is developed to calculate expected Single Event Upset rates in Xilinx's line of radiation-hardened field programmable gate array (FPGA) offerings for the radiation environment at the PHENIX experiment on the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The results of this model are compared to an experiment carried out at PHENIX, where actual upset data was obtained. Specific attention is given to unique features of the model, including major sources of "secondary" radiation flux