The AMS Silicon Tracker readout system: design and performance

The Silicon Tracker is the main detector of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment, providing the measure of the particles trajectory in the volume of the magnet bore, thus determining the particles momentum. It is also used in the identification of the particles absolute charge by measuring the dE/dx in the six silicon layers that compose the detector. In this contribution we describe the front-end and readout electronics of the Silicon Tracker, including those aspects specific to space operation. The performance will be presented from tests performed during the assembly, integration and flight phases. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.