In order to achieve the high brightness promised by the single-pass Free El
ectron Laser (FEL) at the TESLA Test Facility (TTF) at DESY, the electron b
eam position must be controlled better than 10 mu m over a distance of 15 m
. The design of a monitor system with this accuracy is described. The silic
on pixel detector, which is critical to this monitor, must have a position
resolution of 1 mu m and an excellent sensitivity for soft X-rays above 150
eV. The silicon pixel detector and its readout electronics are also descri
bed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.