The ATLAS semi-conductor tracker operation and performance

The Semi-Conductor Tracker (SCT) is a silicon strip detector and one of the key precision tracking devices in the Inner Detector of the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The SCT was installed and commissioned within ATLAS in 2007, and has been used to exploit fully the physics potential of the LHC since the first proton–proton collisions at 7 TeV were delivered in 2009. In this paper, its operational status throughout data taking up to the end of 2011 is presented, and its tracking performance is reviewed.

► The operation and performance of the ATLAS Semi-Conductor Tracker (SCT) is reviewed.
► More than 99% of the SCT strips have remained operational in all data taking periods so far.
► Tracking performance indicators have met or exceeded design specifications.
► Radiation damage effects match closely expectations from delivered fluence.