Diamond is more and more used as detector material for particle detection.
One argument for diamond is its higher radiation hardness compared to silicon.
Since various particles have different potential for radiation damage at
different energies a scaling rule is necessary for the prediction of radiation
damage. For silicon detectors the non-ionising energy loss (NIEL) is used for
scaling the effects of different particles. A different way of predicting the
radiation damage is based on the Norget-Robinson-Torrens theorem to predict the
number of displacements per atom (DPA). This provides a better scaling rule
since recombination effects are taken into account. This model is implemented
in the FLUKA Monte Carlo simulations package for protons, neutrons and pions.
We compare simulation results of NIEL and DPA for diamond and silicon material
exposed to protons, neutrons and pions for a wide range of energies