The LHCb silicon inner tracker

The inner part of the LHCb tracking system will be realized in a silicon microstrip technology. The experimental requirements suggest 20cm long ladders and a readout pitch of around 240mum. The complete LHCb Inner Tracker system will consist of 9 stations with an overall silicon surface of approximately 14m^2, depending on the final layout of the tracking system. A report about the current design of the silicon ladders and tracking stations of the Inner Tracker is given. First characterisations of prototype sensors and test beam results of ladders are presented. --- Talk given by Ulrich Straumann at the 10th International Workshop on Vertex Detectors, Vertex 2001 (Brunnen, Switzerland, September 2001). Preprint submitted to Elsevier Preprint