A novel embedded spherical semiconductor neutron detector efficiency estimation using GEANT4 simulation methodology

• Published in: Nuclear engineering and technology 2024-10, p.103252, Article 103252
• Main Authors: Nayak, Avinash, Kumar, Vikas, Parida, Manoj Kumar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Efficiency; GEANT4 simulation; Semiconductor neutron detector; Spherical design
• ISSN: 1738-5733
• DOI: 10.1016/j.net.2024.10.014

The present research work explores on the estimation of thermal neutron detection efficiency for the novel embedded spherical configuration design using GEANT4 toolkit. Initially, single and multiple layer of embedded spherical configurations were designed in geometry category class of GEANT4 toolkit using Boron (10B) converter material followed by, estimation of simulated thermal neutron detection efficiency at different radii which varies between 0.05 μm and 5 μm for both single and multiple layer embedded spherical detector configuration. The maximum thermal neutron detection efficiency obtained for the single layer embedded spherical detector configuration is ∼5.1 % at an optimum (critical) radius of ∼4.55 μm. It was noticed that with the rise in the number of layers of embedded spherical detector configuration the thermal neutron detection efficiency was also increasing. Furthermore, investigation the effect of varying level of Low Level Discriminator and different enrichment level of 10B on the efficiency was also studied. Finally, the histoplot was investigated for a typical 10 layers of embedded spherical detector configuration at typical lower (200 nm) and higher (3 μm) radius.