Predictions about the behaviour of diamond, silicon, SiC and some AIIIBV semiconductor materials in hadron fields

The utilisation of crystalline semiconductor materials as detectors and devices operating in high radiation environments, at the future particle colliders, in space applications, in medicine and industry, makes necessary to obtain radiation harder materials. Diamond, SiC and different AIIIBV compounds (GaAs, GaP, InP, InAs, InSb) are possible competitors for silicon to different electronic devices for the up-mentioned applications. The main goal of this paper is to give theoretical predictions about the behaviour of these semiconductors in hadron fields (pions, protons). The effects of the interaction between the incident particle and the semiconductor are characterised in the present paper both from the point of view of the projectile, the relevant quantity being the energy loss by nuclear interactions, and of the target, using the concentration of primary radiation induced defects on unit particle fluence. Some predictions about the damage induced by hadrons in these materials in possible applications in particle physics and space experiments are done.