The silicon microstrip tracker for CMS

This paper describes the silicon microstrip tracker of the CMS experiment a t the future LHC. The silicon tracker consists of a barrel part with 5 laye rs and two endcaps with 10 disks each. About 6500 modules will have to be b uilt, each one carrying two daisy-chained silicon sensors and their front-e nd electronics: The modules have been designed to be as simple and robust a s possible. Radiation damage in the silicon sensors is minimized by cooling the whole system down to -10 degrees C. Safe operation after heavy irradia tion will be possible due to the high-voltage capability of the sensors. We expect the sensors: to have a signal-to-noise ratio of 10 at the end of 10 years of LHC running, which still gives an efficiency of almost 100%.