Recent results of radiation damage studies in silicon

The RD2 Collaboration is making preliminary studies on a silicon tracking detector for use at the LHC. It is a priority that this detector should withstand the high level of radiation to be expected for LHC operation. Therefore systematic studies on the change of the detector performance due to radiation damage have been made, or are in progress. Well established results on neutron related damage at room temperature have been extended to lower temperatures, as foreseen for operation at LHC. For comparison proton damage studies have also been started. The detector properties under investigation include the reverse current, the depletion voltage and the charge collection efficiency. With a compressed 10 year LHC operational scenario we have successfully checked the ability of silicon detectors to survive the period influences of high fluence irradiation and subsequent annealing. (orig.)