Optimizing LLD Settings in GEANT4 Simulations for a 50% Enriched Boron Carbide Converter Stack Design

This study delves into the capabilities of thermal neutron semiconductor detectors using Boron Carbide (10B<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">4</inf> C) as the conversion material in a stack design with an enrichment of 50% of 10B (Boron-10) content. The efficiencies have been determined under different Lower Level Discriminator (LLD) settings from 100 keV to 700 keV. Monte Carlo based GEANT4 toolkit was used for simulation and the analysis reveals insights into the stack design. This design shows a remarkable efficiency for neutron detection. A 40-layer stack achieved an efficiency of approximately 33.8%. Moreover, the study underlines the importance of LLD optimization, where the higher LLD thresholds tends to lower the efficiency and vice versa. These revelations enrich our understanding of thermal neutron semiconductor detectors and additionally highlights the advantages of the stack design, particularly pertinent in fields requiring a greater thermal neutron detection like nuclear safety, security, and research endeavour.