The CDF silicon detector: Performance and longevity

The CDF silicon vertex detector is one of the largest operating silicon detectors in particle physics. Its silicon sensors have 722,432 channels readout by 5456 chips and cover an area of 6m2. The detector is used for precision tracking and in the hardware trigger for events with a displaced vertex. This paper includes a brief review of the detector performance and mainly focuses on issues of longevity and effects of radiation damage. An analysis of the time evolution of depletion voltages and signal-to-noise ratios indicates that the CDF silicon detector should outlast the Tevatron Run II without major degradation of performance.