The LHCb silicon tracker project

Two silicon strip detectors, the Trigger Tracker(TT) and the Inner Tracker(IT) will be constructed for the LHCb experiment. Transverse momentum information extracted from the TT will be used in the Level 1 trigger. The IT is part of the main tracking system behind the magnet. Both silicon detectors will be read out using a custom-developed chip by the ASIC lab in Heidelberg. The signal-over-noise behavior and performance of various geometrical designs of the silicon sensors, in conjunction with the Beetle read-out chip, have been extensively studied in test beam experiments. Results from those experiments are presented, and have been used in the final choice of sensor geometry.