Status of the CDF silicon detector

CDF is a collider experiment that is running at the Tevatron. The core of the CDF detector is an 8 layer silicon micro strip tracker. There are 722,432 active strips with pitches that range from 25 to 140 μm. This device is an essential part of the heavy flavor tagging and forward tracking capabilities of the experiment and it is one of the largest silicon detectors in present use by an HEP experiment. A summary of the experience in commissioning and operating this double-sided detector during the first 2 years of Run II is presented. A description of the encountered failure modes follows a general view of the design. After more than 2 years of data taking, we report on the performance of the tracker and its effect on physics analyses. A short description of the SVT, the level 2 Silicon Vertex Trigger, will be given as well.