Toward super radiation tolerant semiconductor detectors for future elementary particle research

The principal of a semiconductor particle detector is briefly outlined and applications in several fields of fundamental and applied physics mentioned. Starting from the basic physics motivation in High Energy Physics (HEP) research, the further discussion then focuses on the use of these devices in present and future HEP experiments outlining especially the requirements for precise measurements of elementary particle tracks, a task ideally fulfilled by segmented silicon detectors. These developments have also initiated further applications in different fields as e.g. material analysis, medical imaging and space missions. In future HEP-experiments such devices will however face an unprecedented challenge imposed by extremely intense radiation fields. Basics of hadron and lepton induced radiation damage in silicon are described together with their implications on the detector quality. The following part of the report is then dealing with several approaches to improve the radiation tolerance of silicon detectors. Defect engineering of the semiconductor material, modified detector geometries and specific operational conditions are outlined. First results toward a complete understanding of detector degradation as caused by point and cluster defects are given and these promising successes may finally pave the way for developments of superior devices.